


Weapon's Waltz

by Strata_Assassin



Category: Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny
Genre: Battle, Blood and Violence, Fist Fights, Gen, Gun Violence, Gundams, It's a Gundam fic so there's nothing fluffy about it, Mild Language, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:47:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 46
Words: 354,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25583848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strata_Assassin/pseuds/Strata_Assassin
Summary: (Original FF summary) A unique runaway flees her world of peace to enter the chaos of war. Who knew she'd have to kill friends and forever debate what it means to be "human." Original characters in the events of Gundam SEED. ZAFT POV.Lexi Rymyr is a runaway from Orb who joins the ZAFT military and is, quite abruptly, placed in an experimental program that takes place before the initial events in SEED. In that program, she discovers that there is something a bit... off about her. This story follows her failures and successes during the war and her constant internal struggle with what it means to be "human."This story follows an OC through the events of Gundam SEED, but from the ZAFT POV. It's an OC insertion story/Elsewhere Fic that follows the English translation of Gundam SEED. This is Book 1 of my Prelude and Fugue in SEED Minor series. Book 2 is currently in progress.
Relationships: Story is less about relationships and more about action, canon pairings for the most part
Comments: 24
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue and Lunar Eclipse

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally published by me (Strata-Assassin) on Fanfiction.net. I began this story back in 2008 and officially completed it in 2013. I have yet to go back and do a proper rewrite, but for the version on this website I have tweaked some sentence structure here and there to match my current writing style a bit more (and to make it a little less... cringe worthy). The plot/characterization I have not touched, so it will be very much the same story as what is posted on FF. If anything does change (names, minor events, chapter titles, etc.) I will put a note on the chapter to inform you. I'll post the chapters as I edit them so the timing might not be consistent as I progress into later chapters primarily because the chapters just get really long and, as a result, it takes longer to go through them.
> 
> Please note, I will try to not give away any spoilers in the review section, but if you are interested in anything, please feel free to contact me directly, or you can view the full story on Fanfiction.net. 
> 
> I guess my main reason for putting the story on this platform is to try and attract a bigger audience and to get some advice from a wider range of readers. Writing is a process, a skill, and a passion so if I don't seek feedback, receive feedback, and give feedback, I will not improve. It's as simple as that, really. On that note, for all of you who do give me some constructive advice, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and will strive to return that respect 10-fold. 
> 
> Well, enough from me, I think. I'm sure I'll be blabbering in another note sometime soon, so I'll "put a fork in it," as the saying goes. Thanks again and see you soon.
> 
> Mandatory disclaimers: I do not own anything related to Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny, or the Gundam franchise.  
> As we all know, the characters in SEED are all teenagers, but they tend to deal with rather adult concepts. I have not officially aged my characters (I might take the leap someday), but have followed canon in that regard. There might be some adult concepts they have to deal with, so please bear that in mind.  
> For those readers who are not interested in any pre-SEED material, the SEED timeline starts in chapter 11.

_“You are a tool of war; a weapon. Nothing but a shadow; a shadow of death.”_

**Prologue **

_I switched divisions today. Well, switched training programs would be more appropriate. I just spent the past three months perfecting my firearms and self-defense skills, but it looks as if I’ll never even get to sit behind the controls of a mobile suit._

_I just arrived at Januarias 4 to begin my new training. It’s an “experimental” program so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when none of the others in my class were chosen. Most of them were sons of councilmen or others in authority. One of the fathers threw quite a fit when he found out that his son was among the first to be chosen. The boy was a perfect candidate, but apparently the “pickers” forgot that he was the son of Patrick Zala._

_They were obviously lying._

_So, I guess to make things short, I was chosen instead of the others, probably because I’m just a runaway. Obviously, the fact that I’m a girl caused a huge fuss, but it doesn’t matter now._

_I’m stuck here._

_I don’t know what’s in store for me, but I’m sure I’ll find out tomorrow._

_Yikes! Room checks. I swear this is just like a prison._

A girl, no older than fourteen, capped her pen and tossed it, along with her journal, under her bed. She slapped a panicked hand against her bedside light to turn it off, fixed the covers, turned her head towards the wall, and shut her eyes. The lock on the door clicked and it slid open without so much as a knock by the ZAFT soldier on the other side. She heard him walk through the doorway and could only imagine him in his pristine green military outfit. It was something she had gotten used to over time, but the fact that they were dressed so officially and the trainees were only given some baggy uniforms only solidified the fact that she was inferior. The solider stayed for only a moment, shifted the weapon strap across his shoulder, and closed the door. Four short beeps and a loud _click_ announced that she was stuck there until morning.

With a sigh she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. _There’s no one to blame but yourself, so stop pouting. Just take it one day at a time._ A frustrated tear trickled down her cheek and melted into her pillow. _Just remember that you’re becoming stronger. Soon you won’t cry like this anymore._

* * *

**Lunar Eclipse **

“Today begins your first day of training.” Captain Vindur was a large man with black scraggly hair and a beard that was well-trimmed and groomed. He was average in height, but he was obviously not a man to be messed with based on the confidence in his gait, the muscles most likely hidden under the layer of fat, and the mere fact that he probably earned that captain position for a reason. He stood with his legs a little wider than shoulder-width apart and hands clasped behind his back. It was a cocky position, and—despite his rank—Lexi wasn’t sure he was there by choice. What high-ranking officer would be the head of an “experimental” program?

“This won’t be anything like you’ve undergone before. Here is where we teach you all to be weapons of war. For the next two years this facility will be your home, the word ‘home’ used figuratively of course.” A smile caressed his lips, almost too sadistically. He seemed to be enjoying himself. “I’d imagine by now you’ve all realized the strict schedule that you must hold to everyday. Severe punishments will be issued to anyone who disobeys such regulations. None of you are sons of any councilmen or aristocrats so we don’t have to worry about any governmental interference.”

 _Well, that was a pointed statement,_ Lexi thought, biting the inside of her cheek.

“All of you will be assigned a code name that you will be referred to from here on out. This name will, most likely, go down to Hell with you, so you’d better come to like it. Your original name is of no significance now, so I suggest you just forget it altogether.” Another reason Lexi was convinced this man was probably demoted to this position.

His pep talks sucked.

“Lexi Rymyr?”

Lexi stopped admiring the split ends of the boy in front of her and looked up at the soldier. Like the one that probably checked her room last night, this one wore a green uniform. The long brown hair suited his six-foot stature and muscular build, but aside from looks he was obviously a private. What commanding officer in his right mind would ask a soldier who she was? Underlings are commanded with orders, not questions.

“Sir.”

“Here are your group assignments, training schedules, and facility password. I suggest you memorize them by midday.”

“Yes sir.” Lexi saluted and grabbed the folder. The private moved on to the boy next to her, offering a half-assed salute on the way. Lexi finally let loose the eye roll she had been holding in and looked at the top of the folder. “Lunar Eclipse,” she whispered, liking how it sounded as it left her tongue. She looked around the room, wondering how many different code names her superiors had to come up with—and how creative they had been—but surprisingly there were only about 30 others like herself. She had been zoning in and out so much during Captain Vindur’s speech that she never noticed who was standing around her.

“Alright recruits, this’ll be your last ounce of free time for the next two years,” Vindur mentioned with a dismissive shake of his hand. “So I suggest you don’t waste it. I want you to meet back here at 1200 hours. Dismissed.” The others saluted and made their way towards the exit. “Oh, Lunar Eclipse, I need to speak with you.”

She groaned to herself and swam her way back through the crowd, offering a few “Excuse me” statements on the way. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Yes. I’m sure that by now you figured out that you’re the only female among your fellow recruits.” She nodded while the captain stroked his beard. “That doesn’t mean that you’re getting any special treatment though. If anything, you’ll be treated harsher than the others.” The corner of Lexi’s eye twitched, but other than that she didn’t flinch. Somehow, that really wasn’t as surprising as he had probably meant it to be. “Obviously, you have your own room with lavatory and shower. You will not be allowed in anyone’s room past 2100 hours, and no one will be allowed in yours past the same hour. Do I make myself clear?” Keeping to her “bobble head” demeanor, Lexi nodded again. “Well, now that that’s all taken care of, you’ll be assigned to some advanced courses on top of your basic schedule.”

“Sir?” The idea of advanced courses didn’t sound too appealing, but she also knew she was really in no position to argue. She bit her tongue before she could say anything to get her in trouble. “You have been in basic training for the past few months correct?”

“Yes,” Lexi said, her voice trailing off as her suspicion grew.

“You have had the opportunity to learn most of the skills some of the others haven’t, so I’d like you to take some more advanced, skill-based training. Is that clear?”

“Understood, sir.”

“Good.” He paused and stroked his beard again, his eyes making a scan of the room before returning to her. “We never wanted you here, Lunar Eclipse, but it seems as if we’re stuck with you. Just remember that. Women have no place in this program.”

Despite her situation, however, that comment she couldn’t let slide. “It seems that we feel the same, sir. In fact, I really don’t want to be here, but just to prove to you that women are just as good as men, I’ll become the top soldier in this facility.”

“I’ll hold you to that. You are dismissed.” Lexi saluted and left without another word.

“We should keep an eye on that one,” the captain mused, turning to leave the room and walk into his office adjacent. A pile of manila folders were stacked on his desk, but only one of particular interest was sitting open across the desk. He looked down at the redhead’s face in the photo, his mouth flipping into a frown. “It says here that she was ranked the lowest in her class, but then again her comrades were among those with the highest potential that we’ve seen in years.” He stroked his beard in thought once more, which seemed to have become more of a character trait over the years than the nervous twitch it had been in the past.

“She certainly has some fire in her, sir,” said the private next to him, walking around to tidy the paperwork before Vindur could sit down at the desk. “Let’s just hope that we can spark that fire into an inferno.”

“How poetic…” the older man muttered but couldn’t deny the sentiment. He nodded. “I’m counting on it.”

Lexi closed her bedroom door after her, trying to get her breathing under control. Furious at having been singled out after the meeting, she ran back to her room once she was clear of the audience hall.

She tossed the folder onto her bed and knelt on the cement floor to look for her journal. Finding the pen first, she grabbed it and tossed it over onto the desk against the opposite wall. Returning to the floor, she grabbed her leather journal and walked past her duffel bags to the desk. Pulling out the chair, she sat down, grabbed the pen and opened to her last entry.

_Sorry I ended so abruptly last time. It seems as if things are going to be terribly different here than my last training center. Not that I’m surprised, but it’ll just take some time getting used to._

_As I suspected, I am the only female among the others. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad one. I really enjoy showing up the male population, but that also means that I’m going to be ridiculed to no end, among other things. Well, it’ll be interesting to say the least._

_I planned on writing some letters to people, so I think I’d better get on that before my free time is over._

Lexi paused, staring at the empty space below the entry. She turned to look at the folder on her bed before returning to her journal. Positioning the pen two lines below her last sentence, she signed her name.

_Lunar Eclipse_


	2. It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The training program officially begins. What seems like a rather normal affair on the surface hints at something a bit darker later on down the road.

**It Begins**

Just like the old cliché goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” Eclipse’s break seemed to end earlier than expected. Even though she spent the whole time writing letters to some close relatives and a friend, the warning bell still surprised her. After a few choice words, she glanced over her schedule before tucking it into her pocket.

“Hurry up, girly, you’re going to be late!” one recruit mocked as he pounded on the door. Eclipse was going to shout her own mockery, but decided against it when she realized that the kid was right. She was going to be late if she didn’t hurry. A few more curses and she was running out the door.

“Well, congratulations on being in time,” Captain Vindur said as soon as they were all lined up in the audience hall. “For some reason I expected at least a few more of you to be out of breath.” His gaze landed on Eclipse who was obviously breathing hard. She just held his gaze until he looked away, determined to prove to him that she really did belong there. She had been having a few doubts, especially when she was writing to her cousin on Earth. They were like sisters, her and her cousin, but the only main difference was that while Eclipse wanted to save the world by using violence to get rid of war, her cousin wanted to just end it by diplomatic means. That was probably the only thing that they didn’t see eye-to-eye on.

“…off to your classes.”

“Shit!” Eclipse cursed and pulled out her schedule, scanning it quickly. A few kids purposefully bumped into her as they walked by, sending the piece of paper flying out of her grip. She cursed again and grabbed it before heading off towards her first class. I really have to stop zoning out so bad during speeches. She found the classroom labeled 45B and walked in, taking the last desk available; the one right in the front. A few chuckles and smirks met her as she sat.

“Welcome to your firearms class; I’m Lieutenant Kross. I’ll learn your names throughout the day so no need for introductions.” Lieutenant Kross was a man in his thirties with curly brown hair that was cropped short with crystal blue eyes. His talk and demeanor were rigid, but Eclipse could tell that there was a warm atmosphere around him. That was, surprisingly, almost comforting. “Your first lesson will be on the basics of the common handgun. We’ll start with the mechanisms.”

 _You have got to be kidding me_ , Eclipse thought, resisting the urge to yawn. _I already went through this introduction and three other months of material. Do they honestly think that I have to go through it again?_

“This is a nine millimeter bullet, one of the most common for the handgun. You load it like so.”

 _I can’t believe this… I feel so insulted,_ Eclipse thought as she grabbed her pen and started doodling in the notebook in front of her. _How much do you want to bet that the next thing he’s going to say is that you have to face the barrel away from your body?_

“Eclipse? Lunar Eclipse?” She lifted her head up off her hand to see him. It wasn’t as if she was doing anything particularly rude, so why was she being soloed out? “Would you like to teach?”

“W-what?” The Lieutenant motioned for her to stand and she slid out of her seat, her hurried salute causing a few chuckles. “Sir, I really don’t think—”

“You’re quite right. What was I thinking? I guess since you seemed so interested in other things, I assumed that you’d rather teach. My apologies.”

 _Like what?_ she thought and looked down at her notebook as she sat. There were quite a few dark doodles across the paper, so despite her attempt at hiding any boredom, it was plain to see. Biting the inside of her cheek, she cursed silently, feeling more angry than embarrassed. “Oh, and Eclipse? I guess this considers all of you, but never pick up the pen unless instructed. Is that clear? I don’t want to have to punish anyone on the first day.”

Everyone nodded, including Eclipse. It was quick, but something dark crossed his expression in that moment, turning his smile into more of a scowl. The moment sent a shiver down her spine despite the fact that her mind couldn’t really comprehend what it meant. Somehow the warm atmosphere that was surrounding the lieutenant took a sudden shift towards ice and based on the strange looks people were giving each other around the room, she wasn’t the only one who noticed.

The next class started five minutes after the three-hour firearms one and Eclipse found herself eager to leave. After her little escapade, she had forced herself to pay attention, but she hadn’t learned anything new. The pace of the class surprised her a bit, however. For three hours, they had gotten through quite a bit material. If someone was slow at catching on or picking up information, they were going to fall behind quickly. She tried to make eye contact with the others from the class, but no one was looking at anything other than their feet. The one person she did lock eyes with was the Lieutenant and his eyes darkened again when he noticed her. Shivering, she sped off to her next class.

* * *

The rest of the day went without incident for the most part. After the firearms class, Eclipse had self defense (which she was able to move up to higher training levels because of her previous training), battle tactics and code breaking, and then ended with the basics of an operating system in a mobile suit. Being a Coordinator, like all the others in her class, Eclipse had no problem with working through a typical OS. The only thing that bothered her the most about the class was that it ended sharply at 0200. Normally Eclipse stayed up late anyway, but because she had to get up at 0500 the next morning for the mandatory workout, she found herself, once again, pissed.

Weaving her way out of the classroom, Eclipse made her way down the hallways to her room. Many of the boys whistled and made a few unwanted remarks on the way back, but she just ignored them. Just ignore the immaturity, she reminded herself and let out a sigh when the door closed behind her.

“This is ridiculous!” she hissed and flung herself on her bed. _What is this place’s purpose anyway? We’re doing all the same things that I would’ve been doing at any other training facility. What makes this place so special, huh? “Weapons of war” my ass. Aren’t all soldiers weapons of war?_ She stared blankly at her pillow for a few moments, going through the events of the day before finally reaching for her journal.

_The first day wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. All the classes are pretty much what I was taking before. I guess that’s why I’m a little curious as to what our real purpose is for being here._

She paused, her pen forming an ink splotch on the paper. In all honesty, it was rather odd. She felt annoyed, not threatened, and so far nothing was terribly out of the ordinary. She might as well have been back in school. In fact, some of her classes involved her studying the basics of any school curriculum, so why was there a part of her, the part that had noticed something unnerving about Lieutenant Kross, that felt like something was off?

_Truthfully, I’m scared. I don’t think I’ve been this scared in a while. I have this feeling that something is terribly wrong here and I just can’t shake it. Am I being paranoid? But what am I being paranoid of?_

_I’m getting myself into something that I shouldn’t be. This isn’t going to turn out good, I just know it. Let’s just hope that I can figure out some way to survive this place._

Surprising herself, a tear trickled down her cheek as her pen paused on more time. She didn’t often cry from fear, but the sinking pit in her stomach made her realize fear wasn’t the only emotion she was processing. It was loneliness, fear of failure, and, most of all, fear of the unknown.

_I wonder how my family’s doing. I haven’t talked to them since I left. Well, I’ve talked to my brother Lathan, but other then that there’s been no contact. They’re probably really mad at me for leaving. Can they really blame me? They’ve known me all my life and they were surprised that I left? I hated sitting in Orb not being able to do things. I guess being born to a pacifist family is quite discouraging when you just have this itch to fight. Does that even make any sense? I mean here I am saying that I don’t want to train here, but aren’t I doing what I really want to do?_

_I’m just not making any sense tonight. I’ll write more tomorrow, hopefully. Let’s just hope that my fears don’t come true in one day._

* * *

“You’re just scared, aren’t you? That’s how you’ve always been so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” a boy, no older than herself, taunted. He stood, arms crossed over his chest, with shoulder-length grey hair and piercing blue eyes. A smirk played across his lips, a permanent resident in that location, from what she could remember.

“She’s always been that way, Yzak. Why should now be any different?” Another off to Yzak’s left said. This one held his ego more in check, but his violet eyes held a different kind of warmth than the fiery hatred of his comrade. It was as if he was trying to show off. He ran a tan, slender hand through his mangled blonde hair.

“I’m not afraid,” Eclipse tried to say, but nothing left her mouth. She grabbed at her throat and tried again, but there was still nothing.

“See, Dearka, she’s too scared to even defend herself. How sad.”

“C’mon, Yzak. You have to give her at least some credit. I mean she did survive the first day after all.”

Yzak laughed. “Survived it? There was nothing to survive! What, she sat in a classroom all day.”

“Shut up!” Eclipse shouted and sat upright in her bed. She looked around her room, dreading the two cocky looks of her previous comrades, but wanting to punch them off their rich-boy faces nonetheless. She sighed and rested back down when she realized that it was all a dream. A rather sad and pathetic dream, she knew, but she could only scowl at the obvious lesson her subconscious was trying to portray. Avoiding her insecurities, she glanced at her table clock and groaned.

0430.

She didn’t have enough time to fall back asleep and wake up within a half hour. Instead she forced herself to roll out and turn off her alarm. Grabbing her running clothes, she opened her bathroom door and closed it behind her, afraid for the beginning of day two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to anyone who has stopped to read this chapter. I never really realized how short these starting chapters were until now. Perhaps that is the problem with not always looking back at your old writing... Anyway, thank you all for taking a moment out of your busy lives to have a read. 
> 
> Please feel free to leave any gripes or comments as I'd love to read them. The action will pick up soon and, I suppose, when I do finally do a full rewrite, I'd just compress all of this beginning material into one chapter. Something to think about for the future.
> 
> I was thinking back today about the first time I saw Gundam SEED. It was on a midnight run rotation when I was, well, younger. I had taped it on a VHS (showing my age..) and I don't even think I started watching on the first episode. I must have jumped into the series around episode 5 or so. The first feeling I can recall is how much Kira rubbed me the wrong way, but I was, strangely, intrigued. It's funny now that I think about it and even funnier when you look back at the first animes or series you watched/read and recall how (often vehemently) you hated or loved characters. Some of those impressions still linger today, but most strong feelings fade away until you jump back onto that nostalgia-bricked road. Anyway, I'll end my musings here for now and move onto editing the next chapter. 
> 
> Thanks again and hopefully see you again soon.
> 
> Strata


	3. Fitting In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An attempt at turning an odd experience into something recognizable, Eclipse starts interacting with the others in the program. Her attitude shifts positively for a little while, but—like many things—her sense of comfort doesn't last long.

**Fitting In**

Eclipse could never remember hating working out so much in her young life. Were these not some of her prime years when she was supposed to like doing this sort of thing? After only getting a few hours of sleep and realizing that the last time she ran long distance she was dreaming, her view on morning runs was changing drastically. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they would have given her a set distance and said, “as soon as you’re done with this distance, you can go,” but their method was a little bit different. Instead of a distance, they gave a pace and just had the trainees run. 

And run. 

A greencoat was shouting at the stragglers from a quad at the end of the bundle of bodies, using batons to whack those whose pace was just not as fast as the others ahead of them. She got hit once despite the fact that she was matching pace just fine. The reason for the strike, apparently, had to do with her shifting outside of the designated running lane. It sounded ridiculous to her even after the training, so she figured it was just some kind of excuse. Even if the reasoning was false, however, she had a very real welt growing black and blue on her bicep. 

After the “healthy bit of exercise,” the redhead dragged herself to her room and fell onto her bed after the door shut. Every muscle in her body was jelly and the thought of getting up to take a shower caused each of those muscles to whine simultaneously. “You know you have to move so stop complaining!” she shouted, feeling foolish about screaming at her own body, but based on what she had been through that morning, she figured that wouldn’t be the last time she would be verbally abusing herself to the audience of an empty room. Swiveling, she swung her legs over the side of her bed and sat up before trying to stand. 

The weakness in her limbs was nothing compared to the head rush that met her once she got to her feet. “Yikes,” she muttered and sat back down. Easing herself back to the light through some slow breathing, it wasn’t until her vision cleared that she could see the time. She cursed. 

It was 0650 and breakfast started at 0700. 

* * *

Breakfast ended promptly at 0730, which gave Eclipse about 15 minutes before her first class of the day began. The meal wasn’t particularly enjoyable, only being a small bowl of oatmeal and a slice of toast, but after her workout that morning, she really wasn’t hungry yet. Lunch would be a different story, she knew, so she assumed she would make up for lost calories then. 

There were only a few others in the room when she arrived at the first class and looking a bit ragged. The back seats were open this time and she immediately headed towards them. A boy with brown, unkept hair sat in front of her, avoiding eye contact. She figured that he only sat there because it was in the back of the class. Eclipse really didn’t mind going unnoticed, but there was also the itch in the back of her conscious reminder her that it might be in her best interests to make a few connections. Without someone to interact with, it was going to be a long two years. 

The others started filing in about five minutes before the class started and once Lieutenant Kross arrived, the firearms class began. 

The class had a similar pace to the day before and, just as she feared, she could see some of the other students starting to fumble. Eclipse, however, was determined to not stand out. She kept her eyes open, but it was hard to keep her mind from wandering. 

The lieutenant announced a break an hour in and called Eclipse, along with a few others, up to talk to him. “I only just received your full reports this morning and I can see this pace might be a little below you at the moment. I’ve decided that the five of you can use the shooting range while I finish up with the others in here. From now on, I want you to remain in the classroom for at least the first half, but after that you’re free to leave the room and practice your form at the range.” Eclipse and the others saluted, smiling to themselves. This was the type of singling out she could handle, she decided. 

It was a bit surprising to see that there we actually four others like herself who had had previous training. In the back of her mind, she always hoped that she’d be the one and only “advanced trainee,” but as her ego started nosediving to a healthy level, the notion began making sense. While most of the trainees there were fresh off the sign-up list, some like her had come from different divisions and academies. She had never been sure what qualifications were necessarily needed to attend this program, but there must have been something on her record. Or, as she had previously thought, it was a matter of wrong place and wrong time. Perhaps she would never know, and right then, the truth was further from her mind than the relief of getting to leave the study session of the firearms class and move onto more hands-on training. 

One of the greencoats directed the group to the shooting range. Eclipse set down her things and grabbed a set of headphones, glasses, and a handgun. She examined it carefully, making sure that nothing was loose or missing, and put in a few bullets. Taking the nearest cubby, she fiddled with the computer until the silhouette of a man popped up fifteen feet away. Putting on her gear, she brought the gun up and shot. 

It felt good to fire a gun again, the redhead had to admit, but was surprised at how much higher a score the others got than she did. Eclipse remembered the long hours in front of the same type of target at her old facility and couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. Her determination set in and she brought up another target to finish off the class. 

Liking how the firearms class ended, Eclipse was actually a little excited for the next one. There were three others this time that were able to advance with her from her self-defense class, making it an even four and perfect for sparring. They fought for the next two hours, evaluating each other carefully and offering pointers as needed. There was a boy about her age code named Fire Storm that was the most help to her. Apparently, he had been taking some sort of martial arts since he was little and knew the amount of discipline and dedication needed to take someone down. The three others learned a lot from him before the class even ended. 

“Hey Lunar Eclipse, what class you got after lunch?” Fire Storm asked as they were leaving. 

“I’ve got tactics and code breaking. What about you? You got the same?” 

“Nah, I have current events. One of the more pointless classes I think, but I didn’t make the schedule. You headin’ to lunch now then?” 

Eclipse shrugged. Her raging appetite actually didn’t surface and she was debating whether or not to just skip lunch and take a nap. “Not sure,” she replied. 

“Well, why don’t ya? My roommates and I were gonna go down there now and hopefully catch a short nap before class. You don’t want to sit by yourself, do you?” 

Eclipse blinked, as well as blushed, she realized, a moment later. “Who said that I’d be eating alone?” she asked, avoiding the boy’s warm, red-orange eyes. _His code name makes sense,_ she thought. 

“I know full well that everyone says about you, so stop denying it and let’s go. I’m starved.” 

Eclipse flinched when she heard his statement. It was one thing to guess the statements that were being made behind your back, and another to actually know that some of were probably true. _Thanks for the bluntness,_ she thought and followed him to the dining hall. 

Fire Storm’s roommates were, to put it lightly, quirky. When a person tries to siphon something out of his milk carton with the random comb in his pocket, Eclipse couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. He had silvery hair and grey eyes and seemed to be a year or so older than her, but it was hard to tell. “At least it was his comb this time,” Fire Storm whispered almost causing Eclipse to vomit up her half-eaten turkey sandwich. 

“What time is it?” she asked instead, masking her disgust. 

“About 1237. We got a little less than a half hour,” said the boy to her left. Out of Fire Storm’s two roommates, he was the one most normal, if you call a boy with long pink hair and violet eyes normal. She just couldn’t figure out why a guy with his looks was code named Midnight Raptor. After Fire Storm’s name seemed so fitting, she had been lured into the idea that others held similar traits. 

“Well, it’s too late for us to go back and get some shut eye. Sorry LE, I know you were thinking about it,” Fire Storm said, turning to the redhead. 

Eclipse blinked, not quite sure if he was talking to her or not. “LE?” 

“Yeah, you like it? Short for ‘Lunar Eclipse’ of course. It’s just too difficult to use the full name, so we shortened it. I’m FS and Midnight Raptor over there is MR.” 

“Ah ha!” the final roommate chimed in. He pulled the comb out of his milk carton and pulled the speck off with his fingers. “Got it!” Eclipse wasn’t able to withhold the gag when she saw him finish off the milk seconds later. 

“Stray, do you have to do that?” MR asked, pushing his tray as far away from him as he could. 

“Haven’t you ever realized that you probably leave hair in there?” 

“Hair?” He licked his lips, thinking it over. “So that’s what that long and stringy thing was yesterday.” 

“Enough!” FS shouted, both on the verge of laughter and sickness. “LE, want to get a head start?” 

“Head start?” she asked, unable to get Stray’s mannerisms out of her head. 

“To class, of course.” 

“Sure.” Eclipse pushed out her chair, grabbed her tray and left the cafeteria. 

“I’ll see you two later,” FS said before following after her. 

“Okay!” MR shouted and turned back to Stray, who was now cutting a piece of lettuce with a fork and knife. “Stray, tell me. How were you picked to come here?” 

“I’m sorry about my roommates. They’re actually pretty cool once you get to know them,” FS said once he caught up to her. 

“And not watch them eat right?” Eclipse responded, chuckling slightly at the memory. “No, I believe you and don’t get me wrong, you were right. It’s nice to sit with someone at lunch.” FS smiled and Eclipse quickly turned away, not wanting him to see her blush. 

Fire Storm dropped Eclipse off at her tactics class and waved a goodbye before heading off to his current events. She watched him go, feeling a little giddy inside. Maybe this won’t be so bad, she thought and walked inside, choosing a seat in the back. 

* * *

Eclipse didn’t see FS and his roommates until later that night after her own current events class. Classes ended earlier that day so that the recruits could catch up on some personal training. Eclipse still had enough energy to explore the dorms a little before settling in. There was only one floor of rooms so finding their place wasn’t exactly all that difficult. Noticing that their door was open, she didn’t hesitate to knock. “Hey, it’s Eclipse.” 

FS opened the door to let her in, motioning for her to sit on the stool in the corner. The room was a little bigger than hers, probably because there were three people in there instead of one, with a set of bunk beds in the corner and a single bed across from it. There were two study desks near the door and one with a laptop. A closet off to the right was big enough to hold the things of two people, but not three. Eclipse had to wonder where they put all their stuff. “Hey, LE, how was the rest of your day?” 

“Boring actually,” she admitted, moving away from the interior to pay attention to the others. 

“Oh yeah, you’ve gone through most of this before, haven’t you?” FS asked, sitting with his legs crossed on the floor. Stray was lying on the single bed, his bed with an arm over his eyes. At first glance he looked asleep, but once she listened closely Eclipse could hear him muttering to himself. 

“Yeah, most of it,” she responded, shaking her head and turning back to FS, “but I didn’t get very far. Only three months.” 

“Ah, I see. How did you start so early though? Most of us only had a month or even less.” 

She shrugged. “Luck of the draw, I suppose. Hey, where’s MR?” 

“Oh, he was called out of our firearms class, but that was after dinner. I figured he would’ve been back by now.” FE shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll show up eventually. It’s not _that_ late yet.” 

The three of them sat in the room for about an hour, sharing stories and just enjoying each other’s company until MR finally walked in through the door. By then they were giddy and tired from the early morning and the long day, so a loud and obnoxious welcome was only appropriate. 

Well, usually. 

MR was pale and shaking so bad that the others could feel the vibrations in the floor. “Hey MR, you alright?” FS asked, getting up to help him into the room. The boy didn’t respond, not even offering a thanks when Stray move from his bed to let MR sit. “What happened?” FS prodded again. 

“It took me hours,” MR said slowly. 

“What did?” Eclipse asked. 

“I didn’t even know what I was doing.” 

“What do you mean?” Stray chimed in, kneeling down with the rest of them. 

“They said that I’d get used to it.” 

“Get used to what? For fuck's sake, Midnight, what happened?” FS scowled slightly, getting a little frustrated with his roommate despite his obvious distress. MR was in shock, and even she felt the sense of urgency and fear in his irritation. 

“Well, it was easy. I mean I’ve been shooting guns for the past three years. All you have to do is pull the trigger.” 

“MR—” FS started but stopped when he saw his roommate's face. 

MR finally looked up and over at Fire Storm, his violet eyes so distant and clouded over. He ethereal in that moment; like the shell of his human self. Everything just seemed off. At lunch he was happy, hyper almost, but now he was like a glass doll. “MR?” 

“I just killed someone.” 

In that moment, the world seemed to shift. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have quickly noticed that the notes feature on this site is a bit different than the notes on FF. Well, either that or the formatting has been fairly glitchy... Because of that, I'm just going to keep my notes minimal, I think. 
> 
> As always, thank you for your thoughts and for reading. Until next time!
> 
> Strata


	4. True Intentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title says a lot about this chapter. After the dark turn in the previous chapter, it looks like some things will be revealed. But... is that knowledge worth it?

**True Intentions**

Everyone just stared at MR, not really sure how to respond. Going into the military meant that this kind of thing was bound to happen, but as they watched MR sitting there shaking and on the verge of tears, none of them were eager for the experience. They paused as each of them digested what was going on, but that digestion was short lived.

“How?”

“Who?”

“Why?”

All three asked at once, feeling no remorse for bombarding him with questions until his violet eyes quivered with the memory. Only then did they pause and finally realize what visions those questions must’ve stirred. “If it hurts you so much, don’t tell us,” Eclipse was the first to say, knowing that FS and Stray were thinking the same thing, but if one of them didn’t speak up soon MR would break down right there. MR didn’t respond, just looked away and nodded. Pushing past them he slowly ascended up to the top bunk. 

Another silence passed until Stray decided to reach over and grab his rubrics cube. The sight of him completing all four sides in the matter of seconds and then mixing it up to try again made FS and Eclipse a little nervous, but MR’s condition still took priority.

Eclipse thought of leaving after watching Stray finish the cube four more times, knowing that there was nothing more that she could do to help MR. If anything, whatever she said probably would’ve upset him even more. “I think I should—”

“Codename Lunar Eclipse, here you are. Out of all the places I expected you to be, in a guy’s dorm was not one of them.”

Eclipse couldn’t stifle a gasp as well as the full body twitch that accompanied it when she heard the officer’s voice. She turned to the door along with FS and Stray who were finally settling down from MR’s disturbing entrance. _Shit!_ she thought, remembering her curfew and the consequences that most likely went along with it. “Really sir, I have a good reason for—”

“I’m not here to listen to your pathetic excuses, recruit” the soldier interrupted. He looked confident as he stood in the doorway, brandishing the weapon over his shoulder whenever he deemed necessary. The green ZAFT uniform seemed to make him feel even more secure, but Eclipse knew that if he wasn’t wearing it, the officer probably wouldn’t be so cocky. “I’m sure that you went through the rules considering your stay here with the other recruits.” Eclipse nodded sadly. “Well then, you have nothing to blame but your stupidity. Now, back to your quarters, soldier. Your punishment will be decided in the morning.” 

The redhead sighed and got to her feet, saluting briefly after nodding a farewell to her friends. The guard followed her down to her room and then locked the door after she entered. Eclipse showered a few choice words as he walked away, wishing that some of those insults would sneak through the walls and catch his attention, but then dreading the punishment if they did. 

After calming down a little and finally changing into sweatpants and a T-shirt for bed, she grabbed her journal and began another entry. 

_Something happened tonight that I’m not really sure I can put into words, but I feel like I need to try. I think I made some friends, but that’s not the news I’m trying to digest. One of my new friends, MR, came back to his room pale as bleach. I’ve… never witnessed something like that before. His face was so pale and his hands shaking so bad that I could’ve sworn he’d just lived through the most horrid thing imaginable._

_He told us that he killed someone. Can doing that really have that much of an effect on a person? Maybe I just never realized it. I always thought that it was a little more—what’s the word… heroic. You know, like the first time I’d kill someone was to save a friend of mine and it wouldn’t be so bad because they wanted to hurt someone I loved. I guess… that would make me have a rational reason for killing the person and that’s okay, but the way MR looked—the way he acted—it seemed as if he didn’t have anything rational to back him up. That makes me very curious. No, curious isn’t the right word. …Suspicious?_

Eclipse shook her head and decided to end the entry there, signing her name at the bottom and closing the leather book before tucking it away in her desk drawer. She twisted to turn off the desk lamp buy didn’t sleep. It surprised her that she had forgotten about the curfew. She was worried about MR. She wondered what type of punishment was in store for her. And, despite the exhaustion she had felt earlier, her brain had extended beyond being tired and was just replaying the day’s events over and over in her head. 

The last thing she recalled before finally falling asleep was MR’s eyes.

* * *

As soon as the guard and Eclipse left, FS and Stray finished up getting ready and crawled into their beds. Much like Eclipse, they weren’t able to go to sleep immediately, a number of concerns forcing amnesia. MR had been silent as soon as he jumped into his bed, but he didn’t seem asleep, even though that was almost 45 minutes ago. A look between FS and Stray showed that they wanted to ask MR about what had really happened, but both of them also didn’t want to ask anything too soon and not give MR a chance to process. 

Stray broke the glance first by shaking his head and rolling over onto the other side. FS got the hint and moved onto his back to stare at the bottom of MR’s bed above his head. 

“Guys, I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Stray and FS instantly sat up, FS having to rub the top of his head after because he hit it on the bottom of the top bunk. “MR?” FS asked, making sure that it was really him who had spoken up though, in retrospect, there was really no other alternative.

“Just wait until you have to do it.”

“Do what?” Stray asked.

“Kill someone.” Neither roommate knew what to say, but MR continued despite the silence. “What they’ll do is pull you from class and take you to the other side of the facility. They’ll sit you down and tell you that you’ll get used to it, but never really tell you what you have to get used to. The next thing you know, you’re pulling the trigger of a pistol and killing a person.”

MR paused and his roommates could hear a soft sniffle. “The worst thing is that you don’t even know who they are, what they look like, or even what they did. That man could’ve had a family and a home, but I killed him. I’m not even sure if it was a man. I killed someone that meant the world to someone else.”

“MR, I—” FS began, but was silenced a second later.

“All they kept telling me was that I’d get used to it. That’s all that mattered to them.”

* * *

Eclipse awoke the next morning a little groggier than normal. She figured it was probably from a combination of worry and nightmares, but either way, a slow start to the morning was not a good idea given her predicament. The clock switched over to 0515 when she finally jumped out of bed to get ready. Throwing on some clothes for running, she grabbed a sweatshirt and her running shoes before heading out the door. 

She saw FS and Stray in the hallway, but no MR. She was about to go over to ask how he was doing when the officer from last night pulled her aside. “Your punishment has been decided.” 

_Well, that line was a little lame,_ she thought, but was in no place to either argue or mock.

“You will be running an additional hour this morning on top of our regular exercises.” Eclipse blinked, knowing that they would bleed into her breakfast time and she was mentally doing the math when the guard interjected. “No, you probably won’t have time for breakfast.” He walked away to join the other officers. Eclipse gritted her teeth and started doing some warm-up stretches, waiting for the command to start their training.

* * *

“I’m sorry that you had to do all of that,” FS apologized in self-defense class. He threw a punch at Eclipse, which she barely managed to push out wide, and came around in a roundhouse kick that sent her flying back. 

_Yeah right,_ she thought, rubbing her throbbing side and wincing when her weight fell onto a new welt that was forming on her thigh. Not only was she required to run an hour longer, she was also “fortunate” to be at the other end of a few batons. _You can’t just say you’re sorry and then do a kick like that._ She coughed a little before getting back into her defense stance. “It wasn’t all that bad,” she lied.

“Right…” He threw a punch with his left hand, but it didn’t have the same amount of power he typically used. It was either a pity punch or he was distracted. Either way, Eclipse wasn’t about to ignore the opportunity to pay him back. FS’s punch landed harmlessly in the pocket of her left hand and she shifted her weight to pull him forward into her right elbow. FS caught on faster than she had anticipated and was able to dodge the counterattack quickly enough to not catch it square in the nose, but he did grunt loudly when the bone brushed across his cheekbone. He staggered backwards and blinked his eyes a little to get them clear again before going back into his own defensive stance. “That was pretty good. Either I made you mad or something else did.”

“You just got lazy.” She smirked and he gave a small shrug. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How was MR this morning?” 

FS took a deep breath and began a sequence of attacks, the two falling into a dance of kicks, blocks, and counterattacks. It continued for a minute or so until Eclipse broke the contact, stepping back and regaining her footing for the next round.

“He actually wasn’t in the room,” FS explained between breaths. “All of his stuff was there, but for some reason he his bed was empty.”

“Do you think he left?”

“I didn’t think he could leave. I mean they lock our doors after curfew, so where could he have gone?”

Eclipse thought it over briefly and was awarded with a well-aimed kick to her stomach. She was able to get a block down in time to redirect the kick toward her left hip, but her left foot was planted too firmly to completely dilute the force of the blow. She grunted and buckled at the contact, bending to one knee. FS followed through with the momentum from the kick but hesitated, which put too much of his weight on his right side and his leg dangerously close to her. Eclipse noticed the mistake and recovered quickly, kicking out at his right ankle and sweeping her foot around to knock him off balance. He didn’t lose his footing, however, dipping into a roll and then returning to his feet a safe distance away. She didn’t pursue. They both returned to their defensive stances.

“Maybe they took him again,” Eclipse huffed.

“They better not have.” Her sparring partner scowled, beginning the next round of attacks by throwing a punch that the redhead blocked cleanly. 

“There’s nothing we could do if they did though.” 

“Lunar Eclipse?”

FS and Eclipse shared a look before they disengaged and she walked over to the instructor. “Captain Vindur would like to meet with you.”

“Now?” Eclipse asked, fumbling a moment before she added the “ma’am” at the end of her query.

“Yes, now,” she responded. Even though the instructor seemed to be just as stoic as the rest of the teachers, at that moment, something in her golden eyes gave her away. There was pity in those eyes.

“Right away, ma’am.” Eclipse saluted, nodded to FS and then followed the nearby greencoat out the door.

* * *

_This is a long hallway,_ Eclipse thought as they turned around yet another corner. The alarm in her head was going off rapidly, but she was trying to ignore it, swallow whatever panic was attempting to rise in her chest. Another corner welcomed yet another hallway, but this time the walls had changed. They were no longer cemented, but old, green-colored tiles. Somehow, she didn’t think this area of the compound was used very often.

“Ah, Lunar Eclipse, glad you could come.” Captain Vindur was leaning against the wall a few paces down the tiled hallway. He adorned his ZAFT captain uniform and medals with a cigarette lying on corner of his lips. A dismissed hand gesture sent her original escort on his way back to the training rooms and he turned his full attention on her once the footsteps had quieted.

“What did you wish to speak to me about, sir?” Eclipse asked and saluted.

Vindur smirked quickly, but Eclipse didn’t miss it. The alarms sounded again and this time she didn’t ignore it, but there was no way out of the situation now. “Follow me please, Lunar Eclipse.”

“Sir.”

She tagged close behind, noting that any of the other guards they passed were walking toward the opposite direction. Her heart began to race then when she passed a bunch of steel doors, but other then their feet there was no other sound. For such a large area, it seemed like there should’ve been some sort of sound echoing throughout the halls or through the doors.

“Sir, where are we—”

“Hush, you are not to ask questions, recruit. I figured by now you’d know that.”

“I’m sorry sir.” She bit her tongue and remained a few feet behind him.

They walked a few more paces down the hall and finally stopped at one of the steel doors before the hallway turned to continue its trek. He flipped open a keypad and punched in a sequence of numbers. “Go inside,” he ordered as soon as the door slid open.

Eclipse nodded slowly and walked through the opening, withholding a gasp when she saw a figure tied up in the corner with a black bag over his head. The person’s hands were tied roughly behind his back, Eclipse noting a red rash stretching up his forearms. She couldn’t tell for sure whether it was a male or female in that chair, but based on the chest and build, the subject appeared to be male. It took her a moment longer to digest the putrid smells and raspy breathing, but only once those realizations hit her did her brain finally connect the dots. The image of MR as he walked into his room last night flashed across her mind’s eye.

It was her turn.

“Take this.” He reached to the back of his belt and handed her his pistol, even cocking it for her. 

She took it gingerly, looking at it dumbly and then up at him. “What do you want me to do with it, sir?” she asked, knowing that it would probably get her a slap on the side of the head, but she didn’t want to jump to conclusions just yet. Perhaps she wasn’t here to kill him, but then again that should have been obvious as soon as the captain gave her the pistol.

“This, Lunar Eclipse, is an execution and you are the executioner.”

Eclipse heard the prisoner mumble something from his perch. His attempt at language came out in a gurgled mess. If he wasn’t gagged, she probably could’ve understood. “You want me to kill him?” Vindur nodded. “But who is he? What has he done?”

“That is no concern of yours. The judgement has been passed and I have given you the command. Your duty is to carry it out.” He left the room without another word. Only then did Eclipse notice the large window on the wall and her breath quickened. The captain had moved into the other room behind that window and was standing there.

Watching.

Eclipse’s head spun. She was trying to think of some way—any way to get out of the situation. She remembered her journal entry the night before and realized that her first kill might not be as heroic as she had pictured. She mentally slapped herself then for even thinking that she might kill the man. She didn’t know anything about him, and he obviously never did anything to hurt her so why should she kill him? She looked down at the pistol before looking up and staring Vindur in the eye. He was smiling—the bastard was smiling, and also not planning on leaving until the job was done, she assumed. The redhead then remembered hearing the door lock and knew that there was no way out.

She turned back to the prisoner. He was wearing a puke green, baggy shirt that looked to be a rag at one point in time. His pants were nothing special and he wore no shoes with ropes around his ankles, the familiar red rash scratching up under his pant legs. His head was upright on his shoulders, as if looking through the black hood to Eclipse across the room. Her breath caught.

He could see her.

He started shaking his head, but she couldn’t understand what it meant. Maybe he was just trying to tell her not to shoot him. “What did you do?” She asked as calmly as she could muster, wishing that she could understand the loud mumble that left his mouth. A part of her wanted to go over and take off the hood, but she didn’t even have the guts to look this man in the eyes. She figured that was another reason Vindur stood watch. He was ready to come in and stop her from doing anything he considered against protocol. But wasn’t this man’s life important? If she could keep him from dying shouldn’t she try?

“Who are you?” she asked instead, getting a little closer, but kept the pistol low to the ground. “Why are you here? Did you do some kind of crime or did you kill someone? Perhaps you’re from the Earth Forces and were trying to assassinate the chairman.” Only mumbles came in reply.

She wanted so much to understand.

Tears threatened her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Something inside of her was keeping her from crying. It must’ve been the same thing that kept her from taking off his hood and was driving her feet towards the bound man in the corner. If this man killed someone, shouldn’t he have the same punishment? _He should; you’re right_ , something in her mind was telling her. _He deserves to die._ “Are you a murderer? A criminal?” 

Mumbles.

She could feel Vindur’s stare behind her, egging her on. Both provoking and threatening her at the same time.

“Answer me!” she shouted, lifting the pistol up and aiming it at the man’s head. “Why are you here!” 

Eclipse didn’t know what had come over her. Was she in shock? Panic? No… anger? It was as if something inside had snapped and there was nothing she could do to keep her from approaching this man. It was obvious he could not communicate. Why did she keep asking questions? Some kind of bloodlust had escaped and was clouding her vision. It was taking over her mind even as she stood there. Perhaps the scariest part though, was that she liked the feeling.

She was starting to enjoy it.

“Why don’t you answer me? Can’t you see that I hold your life in my hands? If my finger was to twitch, you’d be dead. I’ve given you all of this time to reconcile what you’ve done, and all you can do is mumble?” Eclipse thought about MR again, but now she was angry with him and confused. She just couldn’t figure out how it had taken him hours to kill a prisoner. She hadn’t been in here for long and she was already ready to pull the trigger. This prisoner was nothing—no one. Just like MR’s prisoner had been.

“He was weak,” she announced, convinced that what she was doing was the right thing. “You’re a criminal and deserve to die.” The bloodlust boiled again in the back of her mind drowning out the alarm that continued to buzz in its futile attempt to reclaim her consciousness.

She walked up to the man and rested the barrel at his temple, or at least where she thought it should be. The alarm screamed in one last attempt to regain her sanity, but it went unnoticed. She pulled the trigger and watched as the man fell off the chair and onto the floor. Only then did she finally see a strand of pink hair fall out of the hood.

Vindur smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Gets a bit darker in this chapter, so I apologize to anyone who was enjoying the rather fluffy stuff at the beginning. That's just... not what this story is going to be like, unfortunately. 
> 
> I realize the Gundam SEED fandom is quite old nowadays so thank you for taking a moment to read this story. I quite enjoy writing it. Until the next chapter then!
> 
> Strata


	5. True Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the previous chapter and a bit of team bonding, as it were.

**True Friends?**

“Hey FS, what happened to LE? I thought that she had self-defense class with you?” Stray asked, setting down his tray next to his roommate and pulling out the seat. 

FS was staring at his plate, shuffling a few peas around for what looked like a desperate cry for entertainment. He sighed sadly, but never responded.

“Uh, FS?” Stray asked again, poking him with his fork just to make sure he wasn’t stuck in one of his realistic dreams. Unfortunately, he might have poked a little too hard. Stray felt the fork puncture the skin under his shirt, but not enough to draw blood, of course. Just enough to cause a yelp of pain.

“Ow! Hey, Stray, when did you get here?” FS rubbed her shoulder, scowling a little as he did. “It’s not nice to stab people y’know.”

Stray blinked, looked at the fork and then poked him again.

“Ow! Stop that!”

“Just making sure it was actually sharp.” FS just shook his head at Stray’s innocent smile. Stray was just happy to see him react. “Where’s LE?”

FS paused. Based on the expression that crossed his face, FS had been thinking much the same thing as Stray himself. If he hadn’t had seen what had happened to MR the night before, he may have thought it was just a matter of being late for dinner, but he was quickly getting worried. “I don’t know,” FS admitted, “she left the class early. The instructor said that Captain Vindur wanted to see her.”

“Really? I wonder what that was about.” 

“Me too,” FS muttered quietly, Stray noting the way he pushed his tray to the side when he started eating. Stray was very aware his antics often disturbed his friends, but he had been eccentric long before he came to this facility. Somehow his one attempt at acting out against his family had turned into a character trait he had come to enjoy. 

“Oh, some soldiers came into our room today and cleared out MR’s things.”

“Huh? What do you mean cleared them out? Where’d he go?”

Stray shrugged and began scraping the mustard off his turkey sandwich and putting it off to the side of his plate. Only seconds later did he take that same mound of sauce and put it on the other piece of bread. “They wouldn’t really tell me anything. One of them got a little pale and the other one just kind of laughed, but whether it was at the one who paled or something else I’m not sure.”

“Hm, it’s all really suspicious, don’t you think?”

Stray shrugged but didn’t disagree. “We could always talk to the captain. I’m sure he knows what happened.”

“Yeah, he probably does know.” The table went silent as Stray finished his meal. There was nothing said aloud, but it was clear they were both thinking the same thing. Something was wrong, but what they had no idea.

* * *

“Very well done, recruit,” Vindur praised after he unlocked the door and walked back into the room with Eclipse and the body. Eclipse could hear the light tone of his voice and it made her stomach churn angrily. “Didn’t take you that long at all. Some would wonder if you had even done this before.” She felt his hand on her shoulder but made no reaction to his presence.

She could only stare.

The pink strand of hair that fell out of the hood had numbed her to him and his proximity. _MR? Oh—please no—did I just kill MR? N-no. That can’t be. There are plenty of people around with pink hair, right? R-right? There has to be! There’s just no way._

“Lunar Eclipse?” the captain pressed, squeezing her shoulder a little harder. 

She still ignored him, or rather she didn’t hear him. _No, there’s no way. MR?_ Her hands quivered as her knees sunk to the floor, painfully hitting bone against cement, but her mind could register nothing other than the body in front of her.

And that pink strand of hair.

She slowly reached for the hood. _MR?_

“Recruit!” Vindur snapped, this time using his grip on her shoulder to jerk her back and away from the body. “What do you think you’re—” He stopped. She wasn’t sure what had caused him to pause, but her eyes narrowed in annoyance. The only things she could register was that, for some reason, this man who was clearly her superior looked… scared.

And he was between her and her objective.

“Move.”

“Y-your eyes—what? Your pupils are gone. H-how?”

“Move.”

Vindur’s mouth moved to form a word, but she didn’t hear it.

She was furious. Vindur had finally snapped her back to reality when he pulled her aside, but what she came back to was just more anger and not sadness. She had just killed someone, that she knew, and it was probably someone she had only just begun to know—just begun to care about. How _dare_ someone make her do that. How _dare_ they make her shoot someone who had only shown her kindness and treated her like a human in this little world of weapons.

_How dare they._

“Who was that?” she asked when he didn’t move. Her voice was calm and the sharp edge to it impressed even her, but she was more interested in how her words affected him. He was starting to get agitated and his fear was palpable.

“There’s none of your concern,” Vindur responded. “Now go. Return to your classes.”

Eclipse didn’t move.

“That’s an order, recruit!”

“Who was it?” she asked again.

“That kind of information is not giving out to trainees like you. Now, this is the last time I’ll tell you. Go back to your classes, Lunar Eclipse.”

“No, you will tell me who I killed and then you will tell me why.” She finally rose to her feet, brushing off her pants as she did. 

“You can’t—” Vindur began but stopped when she glared at him again. Was it her eyes again? Or did he know something that she didn’t? “Fine. Go and look for yourself if you’re that determined.”

Brushing past him she knelt back down near the prisoner. She grabbed the strand of hair that fell out and rubbed it between her fingers of her before using her other hand to pull off the hood.

* * *

“There she is!” Stray announced from the doorway, pointing down the hall when he saw Eclipse pass by. The two had been waiting for her to return in order to see what had happened and staring up at MR’s empty bed and missing belongings didn’t help their nerves. She seemed normal enough, which came as a rush of relief to FS who was the first one at her side. 

“LE, what did the captain want to talk about?”

Eclipse paused before she spoke, walking through her now open door. “Nothing much.” She wouldn’t look at him and it wasn’t until Stray also joined them did he press further about her condition.

“Nothing much? Really?”

She looked at him then briefly before walking inside, but FS caught very little. Her eyes seemed a little bloodshot and her face slightly pale, but while it didn’t see life threatening, it was worrisome.

“LE, what happened?”

No response.

“You too?” Stray asked in a quiet voice, the guys following her into her room and barely registering that her door had closed behind them.

“Relax, guys, I’m okay. I just need to lie down for a little bit.” Holding up her hand, she gave a motion for them to leave. “Really, I’ll be fine. It’s past curfew anyway.”

“No, I’m not convinced. Something’s wrong.” FS directed her to sit on the bed as Stray hurried to the bathroom to get a glass of water. Eclipse took the glass with a partial smile, but that small gesture was doing nothing to comfort the panic that was rising inside FS’s chest. MR had come back to the room last night in a similar state and now both him and his things are gone. Was that a foreshadowing for Eclipse? He cursed quietly but didn’t have much time to dwell on the thoughts. Eclipse, sitting on the bed next to him, had dropped the glass and her hands cupped over her mouth. He cursed again, but Stray was the faster of the two and managed to snag the trash can.

She retched.

* * *

They sat with her through the whole ordeal. Stray would look outside the door every five minutes to make sure that the guards weren’t coming for curfew and FS had been stroking her back in an attempt to make her feel better. But there was nothing that could make her feel better. In that moment her body wanted to vomit every memory, every moment about the ordeal from her mind. Biologically she knew that was impossible, but that didn’t stop her body from trying. 

The guys should have left a while ago and based on the quiet discussion they were having, they were having the same debate. She had been punished only the night before for breaking curfew. What would happen if she did it again?

Her stomach heaved.

She wasn’t sure when the trauma had stopped, only that her body was starting to calm down and based on the amount of vomit in the can near her feet, she hadn’t eaten enough that day. She gagged at the thought and Stray snatched the bin away before she could get sick based on the visual. Leaning forward, she rested her head in her hands, recognizing the distinct sound of a toilet flushing.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” FS asked next to her. She felt a cold washcloth then on the back of her neck and her nerves were slowly starting to calm down.

Except that was when reality started setting in.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

She felt pressure on the back of her neck as FS pushed down on the washcloth. “There’s no need to apologize.”

Eclipse’s heart stopped. Of course there was. He didn’t know what had happened. He didn’t know what she did. He didn’t know anything.

“I’m sorry. S-so sorry.”

She saw a shadow form at her feet and glanced up to catch sight of Stray. His head was cocked to the side innocently, the hint of a smile on his lips. “Nothing to be sorry about,” he stated simply.

“No, I’m not sorry for that.” She gestured to her mouth. “Well, I am, but I mean—It’s—” What did she mean? Should she tell them? Feeling FS’s strong presence next to her and Stray’s warm smile at her feet—could she even say the words. _I killed him._

“Guys, I—I—”

“You had to, right?” FS interjected, flipping over the washcloth and returning it to her neck. “They made you do it. It’s the same thing we told MR.”

Her hand cupped her mouth again at the mention of his name.

“S-shit! I thought you were better. Stray—”

Shaking her the nausea away, she got to her feet quickly and stepped away from them. She had arisen too quickly, however, and the head rush nearly floored her, but she caught herself on the desk before that happened. Holding out her hand, she said, “No, stop. Don’t.”

Eclipse couldn’t figure it out. Why were these two paying so much attention to her? Why were they being so nice? Haven’t they only known her for a few days? “W-why?” she asked quietly and only when they didn’t respond did she repeat the question, just louder. “Why?” They looked at her with a confusion her mind couldn’t comprehend. It was as if their being in that room at that time was the most natural thing in the world. _It makes no fucking sense._ She sank to her knees and was unable to keep the tears from falling this time.

There was a pause before they joined her, squatting down next to her rubbing her back and pushing her hair behind her ears. _Why? Why are they so nice to me?_ “N-no. Stop! Just stop!” She got to her feet, pushing them aside and turned to stand out in front of them. They stared at her wide-eyed and confused, trying to figure out what her outburst was about. Did they really think what she was doing was odd?

“Eclipse—”

“I killed him!” she screamed. “You have no right to be nice to me! I-I killed him! Don’t you understand?” She was wailing then; she just couldn’t stop herself anymore. They had no right to treat her with such kindness. “It was me, okay? I killed MR!”

It was as if she was in her own little world, the only sound being the ugly sobs cracking through her throat. She was alone. She would always be alone. She knew that, she anticipated it. And yet it hurt so bad.

_There’s no way someone would accept what I did._

She dropped to her knees and pounded her fists into the floor. “Stupid, stupid, stupid! This place is barbaric! What monsters thought up this kind of program! Why are we here? I—I had no idea!”

Even amid her struggle she heard the guys walk up to her again—felt them kneel and resume their comforting gestures.

And Eclipse was too upset to even comprehend why.

* * *

Eclipse debated whether or not to skip the morning workout. Needless to say, she wasn’t exactly up to doing that much after last night. Turning off her alarm she rolled over onto her side and stared at the wall. 

Stray and FS left with a few words of comfort, but they were cut short when the guard finally came in and shooed them out. He promised punishments for them all because, technically, it was the second time that they were all caught past curfew. No doubt the guard had seen her tear-streaked face, but that didn’t seem to have any impact on him.

The redhead heard the other trainees stirring and the loud clicking as the doors unlocked for the day. Many of the boys rushed out of their rooms for the bathroom, hoping to get there before a long line formed. Ridiculous.

The day just seemed… pointless.

She sighed and turned onto her back, knowing that she should get up and change, but her legs wouldn’t move. She felt the pain in her abs as she lie there and absently she started rubbing her stomach. Images of last night flashed across her memory and none of them were pleasant. The only thing that she really remembered, besides Stray and FS’s kindness, was the pain from dry heaving and the headache that had kept her awake. Any other time she would’ve thought that her sore throat and dry mouth were unnatural, but not now. Drinking a lot of water and just waiting it out seemed to be her only option, but seeing as she still felt a little queasy, even that looked impossible. The crawly feeling in her stomach began to stir again as she thought more on what she had to do. Turning towards the bathroom she waited for her body to tell her whether or not to make a dash for the toilet.

 _Why did they stay?_ she thought, thinking about her saviors from the night before as she forced her legs over the edge of the bed.

She walked over to her bathroom and reached down to turn on the faucet. It was then she noticed a jar of some sort sitting on the edge of the sink. She didn’t remember it ever being there before and that thought alone caused her heart to skip in panic. That meant someone had come into her room last night. She stared at it as the water was running, combing back through the events of the night before to see if she remembered an intrusion. She didn’t. Rotating the jar, she saw that there was no name, only instructions. “Take before every mobile suit training class and mission. Only then.”

 _Mobile suit training class? I don’t have any of those,_ Eclipse thought, turning the bottle around again to look for anything else. _And missions? What do they mean by that?_ She kept thinking about the note as she changed and left her room, realizing that this was going to be another thing she didn’t understand that morning.

Neither FS nor Stray was among the other trainees that morning. As much as she tried to convince herself that they must have received their punishment early, Eclipse started getting terribly nervous. Yesterday morning MR wasn’t around and she ended up—

“LE!” Stray shouted, waving his hand as he ran towards her. FS did the same behind him. Their faces were both red and they were breathing heavily by the time that they reached Eclipse. Stray fell to the ground with a small laugh, holding up his hand to let her know he was okay. FS stopped near them with his hands on his hips.

“Ah, so you did start early,” Eclipse stated, feeling a rush of relief.

“We didn’t have a choice,” FS muttered. He started taking deep breaths and they looked at one another. Half sentences were forming in Eclipse’s head, but nothing seemed good enough to utter. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before FS spoke up for her.

“It’s fine. We’re fine. You’re fine. Everything is fine.”

She gave a small smile.

“Lunar Eclipse, the captain asked me to give this to you.” A greencoat walked up to her and gave her a manila folder. “It should have your new schedule as well as the key to your locker.”

“New schedule? Locker? What are you talking about?”

“Everything should be in there, recruit. Oh, you’re exempt from morning workouts from here on out, but you will be required to keep fit in your own time.” The guard saluted and walked off before Eclipse could ask anymore questions.

She blinked, looked at the folder and then turned to her two friends who both offered a shrug. “On your feet, recruits! Now’s not the time to be taking a break. Maybe this’ll teach you not to break so many rules.” The boys jumped to attention and saluted while Eclipse gave another smile. They all shared a knowing glance before the guys ran off to join the others.

With a sigh Eclipse walked back to her room and sat down on her bed. She opened the folder and pulled out the papers inside. _Let’s see what’s different._ She glanced over the schedule, but didn’t bother to take the time to memorize it just yet; there was another piece of paper under the schedule that had caught her attention. It was a letter from the captain himself.  
  
_Lunar Eclipse,_

_Again, I’d like to congratulate you on a job well done yesterday. Rarely do we see such protégées even among the normal recruits in the other ZAFT facilities. I’d like to specify that the real reason for this program is to strengthen such skills and make you as powerful as you can in both mind and body. That is why I have come up with a new schedule for you to follow. While the other one did stimulate the mind, I now know what you are capable of and feel that these classes will bring you closer to this ultimate goal._

_Thanks to your current events class I’m sure that you understand what is going on with the war. The only thing that any of us want is to end this quickly with as few of casualties as possible. Hopefully, you will be able to help us with that._

_Enclosed is the key to your new locker. I managed to find you one off in the corner of the locker room so that you won’t disturb the others and they won’t disturb you. In there should be everything that you’ll need from now on. If you need any other supplies just let an instructor know, but don’t count on getting it soon. Most of your classes will be closer to said locker room than to your room so you might end up spending more time there than in your own quarters._

_I’d like you to take the morning off and begin classes after lunch. I know that you probably have a lot on your mind so please use this time to figure things out because after today, your training will be harder and will require a lot more out of you._

_Congratulations,_

_Captain Vindur_

“Congratulations?” Eclipse repeated aloud, wondering what she should be congratulated for. _Apparently killing someone deserves such high honors. But wait, did MR get the same new schedule? That would make sense as to why he wasn’t at the workout that morning, but then why did he end up—_ Eclipse paused, trying to put the pieces together. _He must’ve tried to escape but was caught and for the punishment…_ Eclipse cursed and threw the folder at the wall, letting the tears fall along with the papers. _MR probably didn’t want to kill any more people, so he tried to escape and just because he wanted to save others instead of destroying them, he himself was killed for disobeying. He probably had the morning off like I do and used the time to plan some kind of escape. Maybe I should try—_

She stopped and cursed loudly, knowing that such a thought was suicide and besides, she couldn’t leave without Stray and FS. _But wait that’s it. Maybe if all three of us tried—No, no, no! Stop! That’s suicide remember? The only thing that we can do is just survive this. Somehow, we have to._ She saw the schedule on the ground and slowly picked it up, glancing over the new classes again. _Yes, we have to get through this together._

* * *

Vindur looked at the copy of the letter he had sent to Eclipse, going over its contents one more time. He would have liked to know her mental stability that morning, but he would just have to wait to try and see her that afternoon. Adding the “congratulations” was probably a bit harsh, he knew, but he was still angry and embarrassed about how she had made him feel the day before. She was a recruit and he was her captain. She shouldn’t have been able to scare him like that.

Leaning forward in his desk, he arched his fingers near his lips, lost in thought. It was an impressive thing that he had witnessed the day before, he knew. He had done a little more research as soon as he had returned to his office and what he had found matched what he had witnessed.

A berserker.

He had read about this phenomenon. The myth of those ancient warriors was familiar; the story about people who were well mannered and quiet individuals by nature but in battle they turned into complete monsters. He knew the tales, but never believed they actually existed.

And yet there she was.

The pupiless eyes had startled him and thrown him off balance. Her eyes had been pools of… nothingness and yet at the same time they felt feral. A shiver ran down his spine at the memory and he opened the drawer on his right, pulling out her file and placing it open on his desk. Grabbing a pen, he wrote “berserker?” over her image before closing the file and hiding it back in his drawer.

Yes, things were about to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost completely rewritten from my first draft on FF. The last section with Vindur is new and the middle sections have been extended. It was primarily for impact, but I was also flipping POV quite a bit in the original version, so the adjustments were needed. I hope the changes had the impact I wanted it to. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! – Strata


	6. The So Be It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things were meant to end, but they don't always have to end without a fight. Eclipse begins her new, advanced classes to mixed results.

**Then So Be It**

The new classes in her schedule didn’t scare Eclipse as much as the fact that this was probably the last time that she was going to spend any amount of quality time with the others. She met Stray and FS for lunch, showing them what her new schedule consisted of. The looks on their faces ranged between awe and fear and Eclipse wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Perhaps they were thinking the same thing as she was and knew that seeing their redheaded friend might be next to impossible, but some of her classes were pretty, well, scary. Two of them consisted of torture methods and psychological warfare and the other ones were bound to be more advanced than her previous classes. She was finally put into a mobile suit training class and just the thought of getting into the cockpit of one of those machines made her both nervous and excited. 

It was her dream after all. 

After everything that happened recently, Eclipse was surprised by her continued wish to pilot those things. Perhaps the need to defy her pacifist parents was still kicking in and drowning out the fact that if she was to get the chance to pilot one, she would most likely be killing a lot more people. _But then again,_ she thought as she waved good-bye to the others and headed off to her first class, _maybe I need the power. Perhaps I just want to keep the past from repeating itself. I definitely don’t want anymore of my friends to get killed._

Glancing down at the schedule in her hand and then up at the number on the door that she stopped at, Eclipse confirmed it to be her firearms class and stepped inside. Figuring it to be about the same as her previous one, Eclipse couldn’t help it when a shocked expression replaced her cool and confident one. 

There were only three others in the classroom.

 _This is… strange,_ she thought and took the last seat next to a tall brunette with green eyes. He didn’t look at her as she sat down and neither did the others in the room. Eclipse debated starting a conversation because the teacher wasn’t even in the room yet, but the looks on their faces showed her that they really didn’t want to make idle chitchat. Their eyes were focused forward and their backs straight up against the chair. Hands were folded out in front of them on the desks and their uniforms were so smooth that Eclipse thought they were nothing more than wax dolls placed in there to confuse her. The only thing that proved her wax theory wrong was the fact that their chests rose with every breath.

“Ah, so we have another new recruit in here.”

Eclipse turned away from her classmates and almost literally came face-to-face with a short, stocky woman with short, blonde hair and amber eyes. She wore thin-rimmed glasses along with her lieutenant uniform. Her smile seemed so genuine that Eclipse sheepishly smiled back, but as soon as she noticed her coffee-stained teeth Eclipse involuntarily rubbed her tongue across her own pearly whites.

“I’m so glad that we’re gettin’ new blood in this classroom, and what d’ya know it’s the only lass in this damn place. How fortunate. Tell me, lovely, how ya doin’?”

Eclipse stammered as she attempted to respond. The instructor’s words fell through her lips so quickly that the redhead had to pause and wait for her mind to catch up and digest them. Eclipse stuttered a response before the older woman finally turned away and walked back to her desk.

“Well, apparently we have a mute.”

“I’m doing well, ma’am,” Eclipse spoke up at last, the echo of her words having bounced around her mind long enough to help her form a response. 

The instructor paused, glanced at the girl, and then cocked her head to the side, as if deciding how to react. Her unamused facial expression proved she didn’t expect the sudden outburst and probably didn’t appreciate it either. Seeing as the others had been silent throughout the entire escapade, Eclipse really shouldn’t have expected anything less than annoyance. “Tell me—Lunar Eclipse is it? Did I ask ya to speak?”

“Yes, you did ma’am when you asked me how I was doing.”

“Oh? Did I tell ya directly to respond?”

“Doesn’t every question deserve a response, ma’am? Isn’t that why you asked it?”

Perhaps talking back to her wasn’t the greatest of ideas.

The instructor’s mouth slipped from a neutral flatline to a scowl. “I think I liked ya better as a mute, Lunar Eclipse, so I advise ye to either act like one or we’ll make ya one permanently.”

It felt like an open threat and even the way the instructor’s eyes glimmered as she said it showed that there was more humor than realism in the statement. Or that was how Eclipse had interpreted it. Based on the stiff reaction of the others next to her, she slowly began wondering if her interpretation was misguided. _I can’t let my guard down in this class,_ Eclipse mused, watching the instructor carefully as she went about getting out a few things ready for the class. 

It was just about the same as her other firearms class. The officer, named Lieutenant Ameria, started off going through the various kinds of handguns before having them migrate over to the shooting range to try out the weapons that she demonstrated. No one else talked through the three hours, and Eclipse followed their example. The lieutenant never did or say anything further to make Eclipse feel threatened, but the others did, so maybe she should trust those instincts.

“Next class we’ll get into rocket launchers,” Lieutenant Ameria stated once the time was up. “Good class today, recruits. Even though some of ya are havin’ a hell of a time with your aimin’, ye all have pretty steady hands.” The four of them just nodded and Eclipse just wished she’d talk slower. “Oh, Lunar Eclipse, could ya wait a moment?”

Eclipse nodded but gave a little sigh. She had been getting singled out quite a bit lately and it was starting to become a nuisance. Waiting obediently by her cubicle at the range, she avoided eye contact with the others as they left.

“C’mere, kid.”

Eclipse nodded and walked up to the woman, but she heard a hissed comment just at the doorway from one of her classmates.

“Bitch.”

It was such a sharp comment and the sound seemed to linger in the air long after the perpetrator had left. What had she done? What had she said? Didn’t she follow the instructions? Didn’t she do well in the class? She turned her attention away from the lieutenant briefly to look at her targets and compare them to her classmates’. She had done well that day, so what was the issue? She’d been following the rules and doing well. _He’s just jealous,_ she decided, mulling over the possibility that the reason she was asked to stay behind was because the lieutenant was going to praise her for her marksmanship.

How vain.

Instead of the pat on the back she thought might happen, the lieutenant wound up and slapped Eclipse hard across her right cheek. The redhead’s expression quickly shifted from shock to fury the moment her brain could register what had happened to her. _The fuck?_ As soon as the initial sting subsided, she turned back to the officer and scowled. 

That awarded her a whack to the face.

“Someone will teach ya obedience yet, girl. I don’t give a damn if ye were asked a question or if ya were spit directly in the face. Unless told, ye are never to speak, got that? I’ll never tolerate such behavior next time `round so it’d probably be wise to remember that I run a _firearms_ class. Ya little brats mean nothing to me so why should I care if one of my pistols ‘accidentally’ went off and hit a recruit? Just remember what ye are, girl. No one likes a weapon that yaps.”

So many snarky remarks bubbled in her mind, but none of them seemed to break the floodgate and spill out of her mouth. Actually, that might have been for the best.

The lieutenant narrowed her eyes, presumably waiting for a salute, but snorted and turned before Eclipse was able to figure out a salute would have saved her from another whack across the face. “Soldiers salute, girl. Get used to it and don’t disrespect me again.” Turning, she walked back to her desk with a dismissive wave. “I’m through with ye `til tomorrow. I advise you learn some manners in the meantime.”

* * *

The psychological warfare and torture method classes went about as well as the firearms one. The same three other kids were with her and Eclipse was finally starting to piece some things together. Apparently, only those who were deemed “worthy” were allowed into these classes, but she couldn’t tell for sure whether that meant because they had killed someone, or they were let in for other reasons. She was surprised that only three other recruits managed to make it this far. It seemed as if there should have been more, but, then again, they really haven’t been in this facility for long. 

Learning a lesson from the first class, Eclipse used the other’s methods of sitting still and looking passive. However, while the other classes were mainly in classrooms, her next class was in the mobile suit hangar, so being stoic might not work out as well this time. 

“We’ll start off with you rewriting the OS on these GINNs according to different scenarios.” Eclipse grabbed the folder offered her. “Your mobile suit number is listed in the top corner of the folder and there is total of five scenarios inside with further instructions. Once you’re finished, just go ahead and join us back down here. After everyone’s finished, we’ll evaluate your work, offer pointers, and then go through some other simulations.” This officer seemed different from the previous ones—based on the tone in his voice along—but everyone here tended to be more than meets the eye. Still feeling the sting in her cheeks, she knew caution was the best policy.

The instructor, Officer Roan, stood taller than the others in the room and wore a black shirt that showed off his athletic figure. He had an attractive face and often smiled, which seemed to be a rarity in this facility. Eclipse even found herself instantly attracted to him, which was going to make this class difficult, she knew. She swallowed nervously a few times to keep herself from blushing when his gold-colored eyes rested on her.

If he was going to lecture them, she couldn’t promise that her concentration would be squarely on her studies...

“Now, go find your assigned mobile suit and begin. We have a lot of things to get through.” After a brief hesitation they saluted and went to one of the lifts in front their GINN. The mobile suit itself was nothing special, but they were a standard ZAFT model. Being one of the very first prototypes, it had all the classic armaments like the MMI-MBA3 machine gun and MA-M3 heavy blade to slice the enemy when the bullets didn’t finish them off first. It was humanoid (about 70ft tall) with large shoulder guards and wings to help guide and mask the boosters. The head resembled a human wearing both a helmet and a gas mask, at least that was the connection Eclipse’s mind made. There was a large, red light right under the helmet and above the mask that served as the main camera. In an article a while back, she remembered having read about some traumatized victims not being able to get that horrid orb out of their head and now that she was able to observe the phenomenon up close, she could understand the haunted imagery. 

Eclipse pushed the lever towards the word “Up” and waited restlessly as it inched its way to the cockpit. Her excitement, no longer feigned, seemed to trump her caution in the moments before. She couldn’t remember the exact moment her fascination with mobile suits began, the interest taking hold slowly as if it had always been there and was always meant to be there. An uncharacteristic giggle exited her lips once her lift stopped at the cockpit and she saw the seat and gadgets inside. It was similar to the simulations she had been running at her previous training academy, but the simulators—no matter how hard they tried—could not hold up against the real thing. Not being able to control herself, Eclipse rubbed her hand over the frame of the opening before turning and sitting in the seat. She smiled and absently fiddled with the levers and buttons, but never enough to move or press them.

She would hate to know her punishment if she did.

After a few more moments, Eclipse opened her folder and rifled through its contents. The first page held some instructions how to get into the operating system itself and then the others under it gave her different scenarios ranging from desert sands to anti-gravity situations. Each one had an army of Earth Alliance weaponry and the different forms that they could come in as well as the different patterns that they could be set up. The possibilities were endless.

“Why haven’t any of you started yet? You don’t have all day, soldiers. This is no time to gawk at the machinery. You’ll learn how they tick another time. Right now, follow your orders!”

Eclipse swallowed before reaching over to her right and pulling down the keyboard. The screen above it flashed blue and then went through a series of configurations on its own. Eclipse watched silently, following the instructions in the folder only after the screen flashed yellow twice, as it was supposed to. 

_So, the first scenario involves swampland. We’re sneaking up on a small military base consisting of 10 tanks, 2 anti-aircraft guns, and 4 rocket launchers. About 100 in the base and I’m alone. Well, this’ll be easy,_ she thought dryly, placing her fingers on the keyboard after taking a breath to steady herself. _Here it goes._

Her hands moved only as fast as her eyes would allow, but even that was unnaturally quick. Her Coordinator genetics seemed to accelerate the processing speed in her brain, making this type of exercise feel natural. Each and every configuration of substance flickered in and out of her mind, posing the question of whether Coordinators were closer to computer processors than actual humans. _The resistance of the pedal and arm levers should be adjusted according to the gravity as well as the booster output. Balance indicators need to be fixed based on the soft ground. Cockpit atmosphere adjusted to prevent the pilot from overheating. Motion detectors and heat sensors activated. Distribute more weight onto the core rather than the feet to keep the machine from slipping. Joint pressure equal in both legs. Limb resistance adjusted based on the added gravity and readjusted for pilot preference. Weapon list and supply levels… confirmed. Calibration adjusted 1.6 degrees based on previous changes. No current errors or damage sustained._

The list continued on and only in a matter of minutes was she finally done with the whole thing. Before she even clicked the “Finished” button on her screen, her mind was going through to the next scenario.

Eclipse finished the other four just as fast as the first one and was surprised to see she was the third one done. Poking her head out of the cockpit, the redhead walked out onto her lift and pushed the lever that would make the machine descend. 

“Well done, recruit,” Roan praised. Eclipse saluted, but barely managed to keep the smirk off her lips. The exhilaration from that exercise made her body bristle with excitement.

The remaining recruit came down in the next few minutes and Roan went over to what looked like the main computer. She noticed the large electrical cords connecting the machine to the GINNs and assumed he was evaluating the results.

The four of them stood in a line off to the side, watching the instructor in silence, but the eagerness could still be seen in their eyes. He went through the scenarios of each machine offering only a few nods or shakes of his head as evidence of what he was thinking. It took him about a half hour to go through everything and they stood silently nearby. Once he was finished, he walked over to the group and gave them his results.

“Not bad at your first time trying this sort of thing, although because I’m sure you’ve all had previous training with operating systems, I’m a little disappointed. Ironically, you each passed two out of the five—each one of you aced different scenarios—but the remaining three have major holes. We will be going through them one by one and have you do more scenarios until you all get everything right no matter the situation. A well-calibrated OS is often the different between life and death and a mechanic is not always on hand to help you out.” Roan paused and turned to respond to a greencoat that had just given him a paper message. They saluted each other and the instructor had already read through the paper before the greencoat had left the hangar. “I have just been informed that this class will end promptly at 0730. Now, I know what you’re all thinking,” he continued before the four of them could ask questions. “This sounds really harsh right now but think about it. When you finally get to the battlefield, you will have to endure nights with only a few hours of sleep and even ones with no sleep at all. There is no such thing as an assigned time to attack the enemy, so you must always be on your guard.”

Eclipse was rather impressed that Roan didn’t seem annoyed by the announcement. Like them, he was stuck as supervisor, so his sleep schedule was going to be in the muck just as much as theirs. _Perhaps he’s just a better soldier,_ she thought grimly.

“This kind of thing will happen often, so considered yourself warned. There is no set schedule, so I’d advise that you all just learn to accept it.” Roan sighed and scratched the back of his head, the first sign that he might be annoyed with the situation. “Being an important class, I guess it’s not surprising that our superiors decided this…” he mused quietly, but the others could hear and they shared a glance between themselves. He didn’t seem high enough on the food chain to make any of the decisions for his class and since he looked to be the youngest instructor there, it wasn’t too surprising. It just meant that neither he nor they would know when and how often they would have to endure sleepless nights.

“I guess I should inform you that as the class moves along, we will be getting more and more recruits. Each of you has a different reason for being put into this class, but you are the first set of recruits to arrive. At least two of you have had prior experience with mobile suits but we needed four to start up this class. You’ll learn why later on.” Roan paused and scratched the bottom on his chin, as if trying to remember what he was going to say next.

He always seemed to have _something_ to say.

Eclipse wasn’t sure what to make of this instructor. He seemed too nice to be at this place and way too young, but here he was being the head of a very important class. What made him so special?

“Well, I forgot what I was going to say next, so we’ll just move on with the rest of the training.” He pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and flipped a few pages in. “You’re all going to try one final scenario and then we will sit down and go through the specifics. I’m going to tell you what scenarios you did well in previously so that you can focus on what you did right there when approaching this final task. Crimson Typhoon, you did well on scenarios one and two. Avalanche, you did well on scenarios three and five. Despair, two and four, and Lunar Eclipse, you did well on three and four. Think back on what you might have done correctly and what you might have missed and give this final scenario a go.”  
Saluting, they pivoted and walked back to their machines, initiating the beginning of the long evening.

* * *

Like promised, the class ended promptly at 0730. Roan, now known to be the Captain Vindur’s nephew, ended up retiring around 0100 after their scores started improving in OS training. The rest of the time they were working with Ensign Miato, who was in charge of teaching them about the makings of mobile suits and mobile armors. They were working with the spare parts from GINNs and BuCUEs with the goal of giving them an active understanding of the parts, where they went, what damage to look out for, and anything else they might need to be aware of if no mechanic was nearby. Miato was an instructor who believed in very little teacher intervention, meaning most of the time he was hands off and relying on them to figure out the damage and make the repairs themselves. It wasn’t a horrible teaching method for the most part, but they had found him nodding off from time to time throughout the night and unsupervised training seemed counter intuitive.

The four of them had had previous experience with machinery in their military weaponry class, but because they left that class early, really all they could rely on were the blueprints provided and their own intuition. Eclipse started getting pissed around 0430 when she failed to wire the BuCUE’s main camera correctly for the fourth time and even went as far as throwing her wire cutters onto the ground at a snoozing Miato’s feet. The Ensign didn’t stir which made Eclipse even angrier. She debated waking him up, but when she was going through it the fifth time, she found out that one of the wires was dead. As soon as she replaced that one everything else fell into place.

The others fared about as well as she did and they were beginning to feel pretty good about themselves until Ensign Miato woke up at 0600 and looked things over. Avalanche’s proposed method for reattaching a damaged leg to a GINN had been filled with holes. Literally. According to his report, he had forgotten to weld spare metal sheets over the gashes in the appendage and, according to Miato, the suit would have collapsed in the hangar the moment it took a step. Crimson Typhoon did just as bad when he screwed up the main machine guns. Instead of the barrels shooting out, the bullets would have been shooting backwards into the machine. How he managed that one was a mystery. Despair was in charge of rewiring some of the detached controls in the cockpit and despite a few glitches, it seemed to work okay. Though, Eclipse doubted any pilot would agree any glitchy controls deserved a pat on the back. Finally, even though the redhead had taken a few accidental shortcuts, the cameras she was working on also seemed to uphold in combat with only a few glitches. Miato managed to stay awake for the remaining hour and a half and went over a few more basics concerning ammo and how to mount it before dismissing them.

Eclipse went to the locker room to get her things and ended up showering after the other three left. Figuring that going back to her room would be a waste of time, she headed straight for the dining hall instead. Having gotten there so late, she saw Stray and FS as they were leaving and exchanged a few words, but really nothing more than “good morning” and “good-bye.” Being on the new schedule, Eclipse’s first class didn’t officially start until 0815 while Stray and FS’s still began at 0745. After a final wave she grabbed some toast and finished it before heading off to her first class of the day, code breaking.

She never knew how exhausted she was until she got about a half hour into the class. The other three were dragging about as much as she was, but of course the instructor wasn’t about to take pity on them. He continued to threaten them saying that if they didn’t finish their sequences within a certain time limit he was going to enforce some kind of punishment. At first, they took him seriously, but when the class was nearing the end and none of them got as much as a slap on the wrists, his words just kind of lost their bite.

Her next class, computer hacking, started at 1015. Being one of the “either you got it, or you didn’t” classes like the code breaking one, it ended after only two hours. She ate a bigger lunch that time and went straight to her firearms class. Lieutenant Ameria was once again in a pleasant mood so needless to say, the class was terribly tense. They moved on to the shooting range once she finished talking about the sniper rifle and had them try hitting some targets with both the rifle and the rocket launcher. Once satisfied, Ameria had them finish off the class with the common handgun, determined to make them expert marksman. 

By this time, Eclipse was nearing a full-body shutdown. How she kept walking she honestly had no idea, but her mind was quickly joining the dead. With eyes glazed over, she only survived her torture methods and psychological warfare classes well enough to not get in trouble. After seeing Eclipse literally losing her balance and stumbling into class, Commander Roan took a little compassion and dismissed them at 2000 instead of 2100, confident that they were making progress and that the extra hour wouldn’t make that much of a difference. 

None of them complained.

Eclipse didn’t even bother going into the locker room, knowing that she would just fall down upon the bench and sleep there if she did. Instead, she went straight back to her room. Somehow, she found a sudden burst of energy as she was walking and decided to go and visit Stray and FS after her shower since there was the possibility they might be back from class already. 

She paused at their door before knocking, listening for any sign of them. There was still about 30 minutes before curfew, they were often the ones still talking and joking around in their room or with the other recruits. That night, however, she didn’t hear anything. She knocked softly at first, but after five or six knocks she figured that a little more force was a risk well-worth taking. 

Still, nothing happened.

Eclipse started to panic. She hated living everyday in the constant fear that one day her friends would disappear like this, but right now fear was all that she could succumb to. Stray and FS were not in their room so where could they be? There was really only one answer to that question, but Eclipse tried to come up with at least four more in order to calm herself down. _Bathroom—maybe they’re there, or even talking to an instructor. How about someone else’s room? I’m not their only friend of course. Hell, they could even be such sound sleepers that they didn’t hear me._

She wasn’t convinced.

 _I’ll just sit here and wait for them. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. They’ll be back soon… I-I know it._ She nodded to herself and slid down against the door, sitting on the cold floor and leaning back against the wall. _I’ll just wait._

Eclipse wasn’t sure when they came back, only that they did. She had fallen asleep almost as soon as she hit the floor and when she opened her eyes all the lights were dimmed in the hallway and there were lights above the doors glowing red, but only on a select few. She never noticed that until that moment and even looking down the hallway at her own, she saw that it still remained green. At first, she started to panic again, thinking that the green light meant that she wasn’t in her room when she was supposed to be, but then remembered that the red light only meant the door was locked. _Do I not have a curfew anymore?_ she asked herself, rubbing the last bit of sleep out of her eyes.

After another moment she lifted her arms up and stretched, feeling something slip down them as she did. _Huh?_ Blinking her eyes again, she grabbed some sort of fabric and brought it up so that she could see. It was a blanket. _Huh?_ she thought again and tried to force her sleep-hungry brain to work. Finally, she remembered why she was on the floor in the first place. _FS! Stray!_ She bolted to her feet and turned to the door knocking loudly once, but then stopped herself from doing it a second time. _Should I wake them up?_

Answering the question for her, she could hear a voice on the other side of the locked door. “Eclipse?”

“Stray?”

“What are you still doing here? We thought you went back to your room by now.”

Eclipse blinked, looked down at the blanket and then back at the silver-haired boy. “Wait, you put this on me?”

“No, FS did, but I’ll take the credit anyway.” She could almost hear him shrug. “Just leave it on the other side of the door.”

She nodded and folded it up onto the floor. “Hey, where were you guys?”

“Huh? When?”

“Just a few hours ago.”

“What do you mean? We’ve been here the whole time.”

“No, you haven’t. I knocked on your door around 2100 and neither of you answered.”

“Ah, well we were already in bed and we sleep like bricks.”

“Then why did you open the door after only one knock this time?”

“Huh? Oh, I was getting up to get a drink.”

“Oh.” Eclipse paused, thinking that something seemed a little off, but her brain was too tired to make any connections. “Fine, I’ll go to bed then. See you guys tomorrow.”

Stray hit the door once with his palm to both give a farewell and acknowledge her words, leaving Eclipse to walk back to her room alone.

* * *

Stray leaned back against the door and listened carefully. Only until he heard her door open and shut did he finally sigh and walk back to his bed. “How you doing?” he asked, sitting down on the edge and looking over at the huddled figure in the corner.

“I’ve been better,” FS replied, swallowing back another rush of nausea. “Tell me Stray, how are you so calm?”

Stray chuckled lightly and then shrugged. “Perhaps I’m just putting up a front for you, ever thought of that?”

FS paused and chuckled as well. “Well, if you are, then thanks.”

“Heh, no problem, pal.” He smiled warmly. A small silence passed between them before he finally got up and walked over to sit down next to FS and hugging his knees to his chest. “You sure you didn’t want her to come in? Probably would’ve been more help than either of us could be to each other.”

“Possibly, but I really don’t want her to see us like this, or at least to see me like this. We’re supposed to be the strong ones here.”

“Maybe so, but even the strongest people have weak moments.”

“She’d never outright say it, but I’m sure, deep down, she’s terrified.”

“Aren’t we all? Think about it. What we’re having to go through now, knowing what we’re going to go through in the future and then wondering if we’ll even be there for a future is haunting each and every one of us. No one is exempt, not even us. You saw what Eclipse’s classes were. You know who she had to kill…” Stray’s voice trailed off, but he finished his thought after a pause. “We’ll have to start those same classes tomorrow and I don’t know about you, but learning something like torture methods doesn’t exactly make me think that we’re going through all of this just to end up planting new trees on Earth.”

“I know, Stray, I’m not saying that I’m not scared. In fact, I’m probably more terrified than even Eclipse is, but I can’t find any way out of here. If MR had tried—well—we know what happened with that… The only thing that we can do is get through this and I have to show Eclipse that we can do it, even if I have to pretend.” 

“So, how do you propose we do that?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Well, when you find the answer, let me know.” The two looked up to see Eclipse standing in their doorway, the blanket they had given her dangling from her hand. They never remembered hearing the door open and it was most likely past curfew, so it should have been locked. She tossed the blanket over towards Stray’s bunk. “You have a green light above your door,” she explained slowly, but neither caught onto her meaning. They turned to each other and then looked up at her, but neither of them knew what to say.

Instead she shut the door and spoke first. “It took me a little bit to figure out that the green lights above the doors indicate who is in the advanced classes and will, most likely, be out past curfew. Once I saw it on mine, it wasn’t hard to check yours.” She walked further into the room. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” Stray asked, deciding that getting to his feet and acting normal was his best option since Eclipse was already in the room.

“Don’t treat me like I’m some idiot. It may have taken my sluggish brain a while to figure it out, but I’m here now so quit playing games.”

FS sighed and got to his feet as well, getting a little help from Stray. “LE, we’re okay, really we are. Please go back to your room and rest. I know you didn’t get any sleep last night and even now you’re swaying as you stand. Please, just go.”

“No.”

“C’mon, Eclipse. You’re being stupid,” Stray pressed, being a little blunter than his roommate.

“Being stupid? That’s what I told you two the other night, but you still stayed and now you just plan on kicking me out? You left me with all that debt and now you won’t even let me help you when you need it?”

“Debt? LE you are not indebted to us. We wanted to do that, so please, get some rest you look exhausted,” FS pleaded.

“You told me that we were in this thing together, FS. You told me that we had to stick close to each other in order to survive and now you’re just telling me to walk away?”

FS didn’t remember saying any of that. Somehow, he figured, Eclipse must’ve mixed her own thinking in with the incidents of the night. Remembering what happened, he wasn’t surprised that her facts were a little hazy and didn’t hold it against her. Instead of getting into it, FS answered her last question calmly. “Yes, we are. Don’t you understand what it’ll mean if they catch you in here again? Eclipse you’re in enough trouble as it is. If you get another offense what do you think’ll happen?” Stray, using FS statement as some kind of cue, walked towards her, grabbed her arm and pushed her back to the door. 

“I don’t care.”

“Yes, you do,” Stray said.

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, if you don’t care about yourself then think about what would happen to us. We may not have gotten any harsh punishments, but we could get killed this time. Eclipse you could end up shooting us is that what you want?” The words came so easily to Stray and he knew it had struck a nerve if the visible twitch of her arm was any indication. He half expected her to slap him, but she withheld.

“I just want to help,” the redhead said, sadness in her voice.

“Just take care of yourself,” FS cut in, moving to sit down on his bed when his legs started shaking again. Of course, he’d never let Eclipse notice. 

“But you’re all I have. Please—” Eclipse started again, but this time Stray put a finger to her lips and pushed her out the open door. 

“Please, we’ll be fine.”

Stray felt the smile slip down his lips once the door closed and he turned to see FS. His head was in his hands and the sight forced Stray to pause and take a few deep breaths himself. It was going to be a long night. He locked the door.

* * *

Eclipse woke up screaming, the only vivid thing from her nightmare was the pink strand of hair. Something she was sure would frequently be popping up in her nightmares from now on. Her body might have just gone through a sleepless night, but her mind still felt the need to wake her up in time for the morning workout even if she no longer had to attend. She groaned loudly, threw her arms up in disgust, and flopped back down on her bed after she sat up to see what time it was.

No matter how tired she was or how her head throbbed, Eclipse could not go back to sleep. She guessed that she had gotten only about three hours at the most and that realization alone made her groan again. Her body wasn’t meant to function with such a little amount of sleep and, even worse, her mind wasn’t going to be as effective if it was sleep deprived. “Who cares. It doesn’t matter,” she muttered frustratingly to herself and swung her feet around to land soundlessly on the floor. 

Eclipse spent the rest of the early morning in her room lounging around as well as taking another look at that medicine she had gotten the other day. She hadn’t taken a pill yet even though she was supposed to during the past two mobile suit classes. She had spotted the captain the day after she had killed MR, but he didn’t stop to speak with her. If he had indeed been the one to give her the medication, he didn’t seem on top of the regime to make sure she took it.

Maybe it didn’t matter.

She went down to breakfast after the other recruits left and had something light before heading off to her first class. Code breaking was once again another grueling two hours. Despite the large gap in performance between those who were catching on quickly and those not catching on at all, their instructor felt that they would be able to move onto a different subject the next day. Eclipse was surprised, assuming the classes stayed the same forever, but couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief with the statement. “Of course, we’ll come back to this,” the instructor informed them. “These skills are important.”

The computer hacking class ended the same way. The instructor felt that they were advanced enough to move onto something else. This time Eclipse found it strange. She had only started the class yesterday and they were already moving on to something else. _Coordinators are just that skilled,_ she decided at length and just shrugged it off, making her way down to the dining hall. 

Neither FS nor Stray was at lunch, but when she saw them in the firearms class, she felt a smile curl up her lips. They didn’t say anything as she sat down and neither did the other three that came in after her. Each of them stayed silent until the lieutenant walked through the door, but exchanged glances when six others followed her in. They took the seats around them and Ameria started the class. Eclipse was surprised by the number of new recruits that had made it that far and only after one night. 

Perhaps her superiors were getting a tad restless. 

The class went by as usual. The lieutenant reviewed most of the weaponry that they had gone through previously to get the others up to speed and then took them over to the shooting range to try them out. After about an hour into the practice, Ameria called Eclipse over. The redhead set down her gun, took off the headphones and glasses, and then walked over to her. She was leaning against the only wooden desk near the range and watching the others carefully. Occasionally she would shout a few orders and corrections, but she wasn’t really hands-on that day. Apparently, she wanted them to figure things out for themselves. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Ah, Lunar Eclipse, yes. I want ya to do somethin’ for me.” Eclipse nodded and took another step forward. The woman stepped aside and motioned for Eclipse to stand next to the desk. “Put a hand on the desk; any hand will do.”

“Ma’am?”

“Do as I say, kid.”

“Y-yes ma’am,” Eclipse stuttered, trying to get some answers by looking into the older woman’s eyes, but found nothing. She hesitated a second longer before finally placing her right hand, palm down, on the wooden surface. “What now—”

Ameria didn’t give her chance to finish the statement. She pulled her pistol from its holster at her hip, cocked it, and fired all within the breath that Eclipse took to say those two words. 

No one turned to regard them at first, so used to the random firing during the practice. The first one to see was Avalanche. He dropped his gun as soon as he saw Eclipse clutching her hand and nudged Despair next to him. So, it went on down the line until FS and Stray got the news and actually ran over to see what had happened.

“I told ya that someone would teach ye obedience yet, girl, and if this doesn’t then ye a hopeless cause.” Her voice was loud and commanding, more like she was trying to make a point to everyone and not to her in particular. “Ye are on ya way to bein’ an elite soldier so it’s about time that ya started actin’ like one. When rules are given ya, ye are supposed to follow them. There’s no such thin’ as stretchin’ or bendin’ here so what the words say are law. Ya were lucky time. If I coulda I woulda killed ya the first time you stepped foot through my door.”

Eclipse didn’t catch everything, even though Ameria actually took the time to slow down and punctuate every word. The redhead was too far gone to notice. Pain. That was it. It was in her very being drowning out anything and everything that tried to penetrate it. 

There was nothing but red-hot pain.

_What—How—Why? Pain. Such pain. My hand. Busted. Ruined. Pain. Blood. Lots of blood. What’s next—Why? Caught; I must have been caught yesterday. Out of my room late. Again. Was that it? Was that all? Slipping to her knees, she cradled her hand against her chest, her breath coming out in panicked gasps. Cold. It feels cold. My hand. My right hand. How will I—Pain. Such hot pain. Make it stop. Make the pain go away!_

Eclipse wanted to scream, to cry, anything to release the hurt that was knotted in her stomach. Anything to feel some kind of release, but she’d never do it. Blinking back tears and biting her bottom lip Eclipse looked up. Ameria’s expression faltered for a moment after they locked eyes, but not even the lieutenant’s confidence could rip the smirk from Eclipse’s lips.

No, she’d never give her the pleasure of seeing her cry.

* * *

Eclipse spent the rest of the morning in the infirmary listening to the doctor’s diagnosis and instructions on how to help it heal faster and appropriately. The wound was serious by all accounts, but if Eclipse did everything that she was supposed to, she would eventually regain full function. The bullet had caused mostly tendon damage, which meant the process might be slow, but recovery was expected. The doctor warned her of possible side effects like limited endurance or frequent cramping, but Eclipse was just happy that she’d be able to use it again. 

Walking back to her room, arm in a sling and a club for a hand, Eclipse ignored the whispers that erupted as she went by. It was obvious that she was the subject of their gossip, but right then she didn’t care. She had been ordered to rest for the remainder of the day and she knew better than to argue.

She remained in her room through the afternoon and barely moved from her bed until a knock sounded on her door around dinner time. Opening the door, she nodded and stepped aside to let FS and Stray through.

“You okay?” Stray asked after the door had closed. He was holding her clubbed hand carefully in his hands and looking at it, trying to suss the damage.

“Okay enough. This has got to stop though,” Eclipse hissed and she saw FS’s head bob in agreement. Perhaps it was time they started taking the idea of leaving seriously. If they had so little regard for their recruits that they were willing to execute and maim them for disobedience, there was no reason to stay. There was only one end awaiting them.

“I figured out what we have to do,” FS began and Eclipse waited impatiently for him to continue. “Clearly, this has gotten out of hand.”

“I think so too. We need to—”

“I’m being moved to a different room,” Stray cut in, releasing her bandaged arm and sighing. “Apparently, there’s some open dorms and they’re trying to give each recruit their own space.”

FS made a sound like he was going to immediately argue his point, but he backed off, his eyes opening wide in what seemed like some sort of epiphany. “Ah, I see now… Probably to keep them from doing what we did.” FS sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

Eclipse paused, not really knowing what they were talking about. “Wait, what did we do?”

“Interacted. We formed a friendship. Whatever you want to call it,” Stray explained. “Seems like some of the recruits and guards have been expressing concerns that we have been forming a subset, of sorts. As the training goes forward, they’re afraid what might happen if the recruits form bonds and join forces. They’re going to start introducing more competition into our classes, most likely, and randomize scheduling.” He sighed again and shook his head. “They’re jumping onto this really quickly and I think Ameria’s little stunt,” he pointed to her hand, “was used to send a message.”

“There was a rumor going around that MR hadn’t been the only one who had tried to leave. There were three others who couldn’t handle the abuse they were given that night.” FS sighed again and shook his head. “I didn’t think the rumors were true until now.”

Eclipse hung her head. What Stray had observed made a lot of sense and the thought both pissed her off and made her feel defeated at the same time. “So, what do you propose then?” 

Not even FS had an idea in that moment, neither of them responding. The correct decision was becoming evident the longer they sat there and mulled over the information, but it involved moving in a direction each one of them found terrifying.

“We have to get through this thing alone. There is no ‘together’ anymore.”

FS was the only one who had the courage to say it first. Despite his eagerness before, his rational mind trumped his emotional reaction and he was stuck facing reality like the other two. But was it too early to give up?

“No,” Eclipse hissed, defying her rational mind. “We’ll just be more careful next time. I was careless. I thought that—”

“Please LE. That’s not the right way to handle this and you know it. Things are only going to get worse.” FS reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she swatted it away.

“I said no! We’ll escape. Get out of here. We can do it!”

“Would you listen to yourself? Wasn’t MR’s sacrifice enough? Doing something like that would be suicide and I have no plans of dying in a place like this.” FS’s words stung and she opened her mouth to say more, but nothing came out.

“This is good-bye, LE,” Stray said with a small sigh and walked closer to pull her into a hug. “But only for now. Hopefully when we all get out of here, we’ll hook up again. Maybe even do things our own way.”

“But for now, we have to stay away,” FS continued, embracing her once Stray had released her shoulders. “Is that understood? I don’t want to see either of you die.” They stood in a triangle, looking at one another in both solidarity and with separate strength. Their hand was being forced, but they didn’t have to cash in completely just yet. They just had to survive.

They had to make it to the end.

Eclipse wanted to speak, but her throat was too dry to make any words come out. Tears ran slowly down her cheeks and she felt firm hands on her shoulders once again. Locking eyes, they smiled and nodded.

They understood.

* * *

The guys left her room and headed for dinner in silence, walking at a different pace to begin what was going to be a hard couple of days disentangling their friendship. She muttered a few soft good-byes and promises to make it through to the end, but she found herself terribly unconvincing. A bigger part of her didn’t mean it when she said good-bye, or when she said that she would make it to the end alive, because a part of her didn’t think that was possible.

She walked over to her bed and sat down, looking sadly at her mangled hand. A rough road was definitely ahead and there was no end in sight, only a far-off horizon. The months ahead were going to be difficult, terribly difficult. If she wasn’t harassed for her incompetence before she surely would be now. Learning to use her left hand was her only option.

For the first time in what seemed like years, Eclipse thought about her journal and reached under the bed to pick it up, wincing when her body folded over her hand. She set it on her lap and flipped through the pages, stopping at each entry momentarily. There were some from her childhood, but as she read through them, she realized how naïve she was back then. It was an innocence she both wondered if she missed and envied about her younger self. Flipping forward, she found her most recent entries and read them, but realized that the naivety still ran deep. Sighing, she turned to the next open page, walked to the desk to sit, and picked up the pen lying there. She uncapped it with her teeth and placed it in her left hand, feeling awkward, but knew she had no choice.

_I know I haven’t written in a couple days and for that I’m sorry. A lot has happened since my last entry. You know how MR said he had killed someone that night? Well, the next day I ended up doing the same thing, but mine wasn’t just some random person._

_I killed MR._

_There’re times I forget about the event and then there are others when the guilt and pain just consume me, and I can’t breathe. I don’t think I’ll ever really get over it._

_If things continue like they are, no one’s going to be the same when they leave this place and the worst thing about it is, we have no choice. It’s our life and our feelings, but none of that matters. We’re tools; weapons of war. I guess I never really understood what Captain Vindur was talking about that first day until now._

_What will we become in a month’s time? A year?_

She paused to flex her cramping hand. That short entry had already taken her nearly a half hour to write and some of it was hard to read. If she wanted to survive, she had to get better with her left hand and quick. Her mind drifted off for a few more moments as she remembered, again, the pills on her bathroom sink. That mystery was still unsolved, but perhaps that was another reason she had received such a treatment earlier.   
She was defying orders.

She flexed her hand again and returned to the entry.

_FS and Stray have decided that the only way we can all get through this thing alive is to go our separate ways. As much as I wanted to just yell in their faces telling them that was the wrong choice, I just couldn’t. Because they’re not wrong._

_So, now I’m alone._

_I have to stick it out by myself._

_I won’t cry, I’ll tell you that now and I’ll keep my promise. I will become stronger and make it out of here alive, no matter how much pain I feel in this moment. I promised them that I would survive, and I’m determined to keep that promise._

_I will._

_If things are going to be harder from now on, then so be it. Yes, I’ll be a good girl, but you’d better remember this: I won’t give in._

_Lunar Eclipse_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to anyone who popped in to read this chapter. It's the longest one so far, so I appreciate anyone who makes the effort. 
> 
> I tweaked quite a bit in this chapter as well and knocked down Eclipse's teenager antics a couple of pegs. 
> 
> I know some people are getting restless and eager to see the SEED gang. One of the characters shows up in the next chapter and the official SEED episodes will begin soon, so I appreciate you bearing with me. 
> 
> The chapter updates will be slowing down here pretty soon. I had been eager to reach the SEED timeline and get through these shorter chapters quickly, but it's taking a bit of a toll. I'll re-evaluate my editing speed as soon as I hit the beginning arc and keep you all updated.
> 
> Thanks again and I will see you again soon.
> 
> Strata


	7. The Protégé

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time skip to the introduction of a certain, familiar ZAFT commander. Looks like Orb has breached its neutrality and further investigation into Heliopolis is in order.

** The Protégé **

“I’m so glad that you could make it, sir. I must admit that I was getting a little anxious when no one from higher up was coming to observe our progress.” Vindur motioned the commander to sit down on the chair provided. The captain was nervous, to say the least. No matter how much he had envisioned how this day would turn and went through every little detail, he still felt that the plan wasn’t perfect. He had received a letter the previous week informing him that a commanding officer would be stopping in and since then he upped the training schedules for the recruits. He didn’t want them looking as if they weren’t well-trained since that would have put his own failures on display. 

Even though the man that the military sent was a rookie commander, Vindur still found himself a bit afraid. This officer sitting in front of him now and looking through some profiles was said to be one of the protégé commanders that ZAFT was pushing through the ranks these days. Because of his previous heroics in battles, he had been awarded the Order of the Nebula and now put in charge of one of ZAFT’s new space battleships the Vesalius. Even though that honor was only given out to superb soldiers, Vindur found it hard to be impressed—call it jealousy—when he read about all of this in the report he had received that morning; however, he was too afraid to pull anything as risky as outright showing his disapproval. Vindur himself had been a ship captain prior to the facility and he hoped that his efforts in his current position would boost him up in rank. He knew that this man’s report would either allow him to become terribly powerful, or insanely powerless.

Perhaps his nerves were justified.

“We have some refreshments. Would you like anything, sir?”

The commander shook his head, saying a simple but soft “no” before looking back at the folders in his hand. He put one aside, scratching his check just below a white mask that expanded snuggly from ear to ear across his eyes. A strand of his shoulder-length blonde hair fell momentarily across the covering, but the commander paid it no heed. “These are your top trainees?” he asked, regarding Vindur with a suspicious glance, or so his tone implied. With the eye holes clouded over, it was hard for the captain to know his emotions for sure.

Vindur took a moment to verify which recruits he was referring to and nodded. “Yes, they are my finest. We have been recording their progress since we began and that was a little over a year ago. I must admit that they are quite impressive.”

The man nodded and went back to the portfolios, shifting his right leg over his left and leaning back in the chair. He was so at ease it was making Vindur even more nervous. “And this one, Lunar Eclipse, is the leading recruit?”

“In overall results, yes, but she doesn’t have top marks across the board.” The captain wrung his hands together as he stood before the commander, feeling too restless to sit down. He looked over at the glass of water on his desk and took a small drink as his guest continued.

“It says here that he is actually a she. I remember the council asking specifically for an all-male program.”

“No, your memory is correct, sir. There were some… unfortunate events that forced us to pick the girl, but as you can see it’s turned into quite a benefit actually. After some initial bumps, she’s turned into a very reliable soldier.”

“I can’t argue with you there. Her records are impressive, but papers don’t show everything. Is there any way that I can see her in action as well as the other recruits, Captain?”

“Of course, Commander. They should be in mobile suit training as we speak. There is an observation room that overlooks the hangar, so we check on their progress from there. That is the safest place.”

He nodded. “Lead the way.”

Vindur walked over to open the door, holding it for the commander and then walking through himself. The facility had become more compact over the past year or so as the courses became more focused and the recruit numbers began dwindling. It wasn’t a long trek to the hangar and, as planned, the captain chose the route that took them past the other classes currently in session. The recognizable sounds from sparring and hand-to-hand combat filtered through the various rooms along the hall, egging a smile to grace the captain’s lips. He led them further to the end of the hall and motioned upward through the open door, indicating they were to climb the stairs. Once they reached the top, Vindur punched in a series of numbers on the door and ushered the commander inside.

The room, was both an observation room and a command center, housing an array of computers, levers, and buttons alike. Eight men were seated in front of four different computer consoles and other machines that helped control the training that was in process down in the large hangar below. So busy concentrating on their work, none of them saluted their superiors as they walked in. The three other soldiers that were roaming around and keeping an eye on the eight did notice their entry and offered a small salute before going back to their duties.

Vindur and the commander walked further into the room and stopped at a large window overlooking the hangar. Down below, a total of four GINNs were fighting amongst themselves using only MA-M3 heavy blades.

“These computers monitor each and every mobile suit as well as the pilot inside. We require the recruits to wear certain mechanisms while they train in order to record the data and note improvements. They watch the pilot’s heart rate, sweat levels, reaction time, and endurance.”

“And you use real suits not simulators?”

Vindur nodded. “Yes. If anything happens to the suits, the recruits are expected to repair the damage with the machines and spare parts we have on hand. We find that this type of training has been more beneficial than using a simulator and it’s often easier for a recruit to jump from one type of machine to another.”

“Impressive, Captain. And who may I ask is training now?”

“Roan?” Vindur called, causing one of the three roaming soldiers to look his way. The man’s golden eyes sparkled for a second before he saluted and looked down at the clipboard in his hand. 

“Revelation, Specter, Despair, and Chronos are down there now, sir.”

“And who’s fairing the best?” the captain asked.

“Well, usually our third-ranked Despair excels in MS training, but lately he’s been a little off. Chronos has actually scored the most hits this bout while retaining the least amount of damage.”

“Hm, Despair. I do remember that name,” the commander muttered softly to Vindur, probably thinking back on the profiles he had rifled through earlier. 

“Sometimes the recruits just have bad days, if that’s what you’d want to call it,” Vindur countered quickly, noting the suspicion in the commander’s voice.

“In this business, Captain, there is no such thing as `bad days.’”

“Of course, sir. I only meant—”

“No need to correct yourself—Roan, is it? When does the next batch of recruits come in?”

Roan flushed at first, but looked down at the clipboard to hide his embarrassment. He rifled briefly through the papers. “This session should be over with soon, sir, and a fresh group should be suited up in a half hour.”

“Will either Lunar Eclipse or Avalanche be in the next batch?”

“Avalanche will be in next,” Roan confirmed, “but I’m afraid Lunar Eclipse is doing an interrogation right now, so she won’t be in until much later if at all. Depends on how things go.”

“Ah, I see.” The commander stood silent for a moment, his attention on the sparring GINNs through the window. Vindur wished he could know what he was thinking, but there was just no way he could read him.

And that was frustrating.

“How often are these interrogations performed?” the commander asked at length.

“We rotate through the recruits and assign them as many as we can, but sometimes there aren’t enough prisoners to get through many,” Vindur replied.

“So, you’re implying about two or three interrogations a week?”

“If that, sir. There are times that the same prisoner is seen by more than one recruit, but usually the one who starts the questioning is required to finish it.”

“However, you are able to get in an adequate amount of executions, correct?”

It was such a blunt question that even Vindur paused. Full disclosure about the program was only accessible by a select few and if this young commander was asking such specific questions, he was privy to the information. That proved he was well-trusted by some very important people, to say the least. The thought didn’t rest too well and Vindur had to bring his hand up to his mouth and mask his scowl, attempting to disguise the motion as a thoughtful gesture. His fingers slid over his upper lip and down onto his chin. “Yes sir. I know just as well as you that we cannot allow them to get soft. If we see signs that they are starting to take their restlessness out on each other, we split up the recruits into two teams and put them through real-life battle situations. Occasionally we lose one, but that is rare, sir.”

“Good, I don’t want to lose anymore than we already have. I believe we’re down to only seventeen now? That’s nearly half, Captain.”

“Yes, I know, sir, but some losses were unavoidable.”

“Of course,” the commander said and paused, turning away to look back at the hangar. “By the way, Captain,” he said after a moment. “I trust that your security is top notch?” 

“Sir?”

“You do realize what you’re breeding here right? These are expert soldiers and I assume that you’ve trained them to get out of every situation as well as infiltrate any facility. Keeping that in mind, I’d advise you to take every precaution and make sure that nothing will happen.”

“Everything’s perfect, sir. We haven’t had any breakout attempts since that stretch in the very beginning and those recruits we had executed right away. The rest have been too scared to pull anything since.”

“’Scared,’ you say? I’d advise against getting _too_ comfortable. Didn’t you teach them to let go of their fears? You really shouldn’t underestimate them.”

“Thank you for your concern, sir, but you really have nothing to worry about.” 

The commander nodded and turned away from Vindur, catching a side glance that passed between Roan and one of the soldiers at the computers. It seemed to be a look that told more than it meant to, and the commander felt the corner of his lips twitch in amusement. “I think I’d like to stay for Avalanche’s match, but after that I’ll retire to my quarters. I need to take a look at these portfolios again before I make my final decision.”

“But Commander Le Creuset, you only just got here. You haven’t had enough time to observe—”

“After Avalanche I’ll have seen who I wanted to. I want only the finest for this mission. Perhaps tomorrow I can observe them in their classes?”

“O-of course, sir.”

“Good. Then would you mind finding me a chair?”

* * *

“Done already, recruit? Did you get the information that you needed?”

The redhead grabbed the towel offered and wiped off her hands. She really didn’t look that much different outwardly other than the fact that she had indeed gotten older. Right then, she was fifteen, but in a little over a month she’d turn sixteen. Her figure had curved out over the year, and she had grown taller, standing only a little bit shorter than the greencoat next to her. It was quite the spurt and she had been happy for the extra height. Instead of the shoulder-length locks that she had been wearing previously, her hair now had jagged layers and fell to about just below her chin. The shorter hair had made it easier to handle as well allowed her to keep it out of her way during her training. 

Taking one final wipe with the towel, she looked down at her hands to inspect her work. They were still a little red from the encounter, but she would get a proper scrub later. There were some days she was able to something as innocent as an interrogation, but despite the information that was probably highlighting their program, “interrogations” was not the right terminology to describe their contributions to the war effort.

They were tortures.

“I got a little out of him, but nothing really of substance. I’ll go back to my room anyway and look it up while it’s still fresh in my mind to see if it’s actually worth my while.”

“What did you want me to do with the prisoner?”

“Tend to his wounds for now. I may be back later tonight or even early tomorrow morning if I do find something. If not, I’ll inform you before coming and finishing the job myself.”

“Very good, I’ll tell Officer Roan that you probably won’t make it to the mobile suit class then.”

The private and recruit saluted each other before the redhead turned and walked away. The private opened the door a crack once she had disappeared around the corner and couldn’t withhold his cringe. _That girl is a monster,_ he thought, shutting it before his lunch got the better of him. _In fact, all of them are. I’d hate to be the Earth Alliance as soon as they get out on the battlefield._

Eclipse maneuvered her way down the corridors, knowing the way by heart. She knew that she probably should attend her mobile suit class, but because of the information from that prisoner, she figured that her superiors would rather have her at a keyboard than behind the controls of a GINN. The civilian didn’t really give her much solid information, but because her other tortures had only provided her with false clues, she was getting a little desperate. The captain continued to pressure her about her failed attempts and she had no desire to go through any more of those punishments. 

Rounding the last corner, she punched a sequence of numbers on the keypad and waited for her door to slide open. She locked it behind her once she was inside and walked to the bathroom to wash her hands. The whole process took a couple of minutes and once she was confident her hands were clean, she walked over to her desk and computer. After flicking the light switch near the desk, she flipped open her laptop and switched it on. While waiting for it to boot up, a small book on the floor in the corner caught her attention. She got up and went over to it, withholding a sneeze when a cloud of dust rose as she picked it up.

She flipped through the pages one by one, digesting the words written there. It’s my journal from way back when, she thought and went to the last entry. It was dated back to the third week of her training and she gave solemn smile. It was short, sloppy, and only a few lines, but that was probably because it was with her left hand. Remembering this, she flexed the fingers in her right hand and cringed slightly when one of them let out a sharp pain. 

_This has got to be quick ‘cause I’m late for my first class. I’ve finally figured out how to make it through this thing alive. I’ll just hide everything and put it away for later. That’s my only chance._

_Lunar Eclipse_

She turned the page over as if looking for more, but when she found none she just shrugged and tossed it idly onto her bed. It had been such a long time since she last wrote that entry, so she honestly didn’t even know what she was talking about. _“Hide everything and put it away for later?” I wonder what I meant by that._ Deciding to forget it for now, she walked back to her laptop. 

* * *

“Good morning, Commander. I trust you slept well?” the captain cooed as the younger officer walked into the room. Two glasses of coffee were placed on the small table in front of the chair that the commander had sat in two days ago. Le Creuset glanced at the glass momentarily before finally deciding to pick it up and take a sip. 

“Did you make your final decisions?” Vindur asked as he pulled his own chair around from his desk. He sat down lightly, looking a little less nervous than the previous days.

“Yes, I have. I’d like Avalanche, Chronos, and Lunar Eclipse to see me as soon as possible.”

“Of course, sir.” He motioned over to the greencoat standing near the door who saluted before leaving. “They should be here shortly. Would you mind telling me what you’re sending them out to do? I think I should have some kind of an idea.”

“We received some information about some prototype mobile suits being built on the resource satellite Heliopolis. Apparently, the Earth Alliance is involved.”

“Heliopolis? Isn’t that run by Orb?”

“It seems that they’ve overstep their neutrality bounds.”

“So, if you already know that the suits are there, what do you need my recruits for?”

Le Creuset took a sip of his coffee. “You see, we don’t know for sure if the information’s reliable. I want your weapons to infiltrate the colony and gather as much as they can on the subject.”

“Ah, I see, but sir, is it wise to send Lunar Eclipse then? I’m sure you know, but her home country is Orb after all.”

“I’m confident that that won’t be a problem. Do you anticipate trouble, Captain?”

Vindur paused, selecting his words carefully. If he was to voice any concerns then it could be turned back onto him that he didn’t train her well enough and that could be disastrous for his career. However, if he withheld such fears and the worse was to happen, then he could also be blamed for not sharing his opinions. Either way, the outcome seemed bleak indeed. He just figured he’d go with the safest route and place some trust in Eclipse. “No, sir. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Le Creuset smirked and took another sip of his coffee. After watching the girl in her classes yesterday he didn’t think she would pull anything funny either. He had read of her earlier exploits, breaking rules and all, but they were terribly minor offenses and within the realms of a teenager her age. When she saw her skills in class, he had been assured that she had grown past those minor rebellions. He made a point to watch her right hand in particular, knowing of the serious injury that happened earlier in her training, but what he saw only made his confidence rise. It looked as if the injury actually helped her success more than hindered it. Her left hand could do things as equally well if not better than her right hand. That type of ambidexterity was quite a prize among recruits. The commander didn’t really know what was going through her head, but judging from the reports concerning how she handled the tortures and executions, Le Creuset was sure that the facility had succeeded in stripping her of such teenage emotions.

He was sure that she was no longer the human being she had recognized, but now ZAFT’s new, weapon of war.

* * *

The three trainees filed in about a half hour after summoned. Having had another all-night mobile suit training class, they felt that washing up before meeting a superior officer was only necessary. Le Creuset didn’t mind.

They saluted briefly when they entered and stood in front of the commander. He rose to his feet, smirking lightly as he did, and faced them. “My name is Commander Le Creuset. I have been sent here to gather three soldiers, such as yourselves, and send them out on a recon mission to the resource satellite Heliopolis. Your orders are to infiltrate the colony and gather as much information on five prototype mobile suits as you are able. Their whereabouts are unknown, but we do have a few leads.” Turning around, he grabbed a small stack of folders on the desk and handed one to each of them. “The folder should contain the small amount of information that we do have along with a list of safe contacts within the colony already.

“I’d like you to gather as much information as you can including blueprints, weaponry, pilots, and the like. Your means of getting such info is up to you, but I’m sure that each of you realize stealth is the better of the options. I’m giving you a week to complete this mission.” The three nodded silently and Le Creuset could only smile again. 

They were all such beautiful new weapons. 

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer. A shuttle should be leaving this colony within the hour and I’d want each of you on it. Dismissed.”

The recruits saluted again and walked out of the room, offering a small salute to Vindur as they walked by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! We're almost at the SEED timeline, I promise. We're so close I can taste it... For those of you sticking around, I really appreciate it. If you have any issues so far, just send me a message or write a comment and I will do my best to ease those concerns or try to make changes according to any issues. I appreciate any thoughts you might have.
> 
> Yes, there are a lot of questions hovering over the story at the moment and the most I can say is, those questions will be answered, I assure you! 
> 
> Keep your eyes peeled for another chapter to be posted sometime soon.
> 
> Thanks again and see you next time,
> 
> Strata


	8. Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse and two others arrive on Heliopolis to try and find some more concrete evidence that the colony is housing and building the prototypes. Like any covert operation, they are off to a slow start, but it looks like things will be heating up soon.

**Games**

Heliopolis was a small colony (its only function being to ship raw materials to the PLANTs and other satellites) compared to the other two that Eclipse had previously been at. However, since she really never spent a sufficient amount of time roaming around, her observation was more of a guess than an actual fact. 

She had arrived at a facility in the L3 district soon after signing up for the military. This sudden move barely gave her any time to settle in on Aprilias 2, which was her original idea after fleeing Orb. The basic training that she was assigned to wasn’t as strict as the one on Januarias 4, but the length of time that she was allowed off the base was still limited. Once a month, she and two other female trainees would use their free time to go shopping. Eclipse wasn’t exactly the “shopping” kind of girl even back then, but the longing to get outside was too great. Mostly the other two girls would look around, try on goofy outfits and spend large amounts of cash. The redhead would tag along, laugh at the jokes, make her own quips, and even approve of the outfit no matter how negative of an opinion she had had of it. No, Eclipse didn’t dislike the girls in any way. In fact, she respected them mostly because they had already been there for a year, but that didn’t change the fact that while they were like the color pink, Eclipse was like black. 

Once she arrived at the facility on Januarias 4, such wanderings outside ceased to exist. For the past year Eclipse had been cooped up in a building with only brief glimpses outside to keep her sane. At first the longing for the fresh air became almost unbearable, but during those times, the Coordinator would attempt to stick her head out of the small, circular window in her lavatory. Because the facility was housed right next to an abandoned housing district the “fresh air” wasn’t often worth the haunted noises that wafted from that particular corner of space. Looking out of the window then at the sights and hearing the various sounds of the satellite, Eclipse found herself taking deep breaths and basking in the noon sun that sifted through the glass.

The apartment was small and quite dirty, but useful enough to the ones staying in it. There were three cots spread out into the corners, each with a blanket or two folded at one end. The bathroom off to the east side of the room was just like the rest of the place, small and dirty, but still served its purpose. The toilet flushed and the sink had running water, but they were positioned so close together that one could literally wash their hair in the sink and sit down on the toilet at the same time. The door swung inward, which made things a little snug when someone tried to close it after them, but at least there was a door.

There was only one window that looked out to the northern part of the colony. The apartment wasn’t exactly situated in the richest neighborhood that held the most ribbons for the greenest lawns and whitest fences, but the small sense of danger that hung in the air kept people away from each other. That at least allowed the three of them to work without being questioned.

“Hopefully the roof doesn’t leak,” Chronos had muttered as soon as he stepped through the doorway. Avalanche and Eclipse had readily agreed, but they couldn’t exactly _not_ be thankful for it. The apartment was free after all. Le Creuset had given them the address as soon as they boarded the shuttle, mentioning information about a man named Stanley Poakia that was meeting them at the harbor in Heliopolis. Stanley drove them to the place, dropped off a small amount of food—mostly dry foods because they didn’t have a kitchen to cook it in. There was a refrigerator, but that was already stocked full of beverages ranging from soda pops to an expensive wine bottle. He had given them a few more instructions before heading back to wherever he had come from.

They had spent the first half hour setting things up and plugging in laptops, but because none of them had any desire to hack into the military system just yet, they found themselves sitting apart from each other and staring into space.

Planning perhaps. 

“What should we do now?” Avalanche asked, finally breaking the silence as he plopped down on one of the cots. He was definitely the tallest of the three, shy of two meters, which was going to make things a little difficult if they tried to sneak into the base. Neither Eclipse nor Chronos were what a person would call short, but they didn’t stick out as much as he did. The redhead had to wonder when Avalanche had his growth spurt though. She could’ve sworn that he was only about her height when they had first met. 

Damn, that feel like a long time ago.

Avalanche had black hair that made his emerald eyes seemingly bounce off his face. If he had brighter hair those gems wouldn’t have looked half as good and Eclipse had to admit that those eyes were very stunning. Yay for contrast.

Avalanche looked over at Chronos first, as if sizing him up as well as waiting for an answer. Chronos was the youngest, only being fourteen years old. However, if anyone thought that his age made him naïve then he or she was in for quite a surprise. Dark blonde, almost brown hair brushed lightly against his scalp, making it look as if his head was covered in feathers rather than hair. That detail alone made him look even younger than he really was. Or perhaps innocent? Yellow, cat-like eyes threw off the feathery hair theory as well as the innocent one. What kind of cat would have bird feathers for fur? And what cat alive could ever be called innocent?

When neither answered, the boy went on, “At any rate, I think we should do this together. We’d probably get more information that way, not to mention we’d keep each other out of trouble.”

Eclipse looked at him then, noting the small glint of humor in his eyes. He didn’t mean what he had said, the Coordinator knew. To him this was a game.

It was always a game.

Back at the facility, every class, drill, and battle scenario had some kind of prize attached to it; survival and recognition. While the winner received both, the loser (and sometimes losers) was rewarded with some kind of punishment. The fear of that punishment alone caused everyone to work flawlessly if not desperately and sometimes the recruits would even attempt to sabotage each other’s efforts. Eclipse had found herself at the end of that ploy many times, but she understood their reasoning. 

The punishments were torturous.

Even though Avalanche was used to such rules, Eclipse was sure that this mission had nothing remotely close to the term “game” attached to it. Their job was to try and infiltrate a well-guarded, if not expertly sealed, compound and steal some information. The price of getting caught was most likely death and knowing their position, it would probably be by their own hands. None of them were suicidal, but just the thought of someday returning to Januarias 4 after being released or rescued made each of them shiver. Death was far more merciful than any welcome party that that facility could conduct.

No, this was not a game; never a game.

Eclipse knew that, but still she smirked.

Let Avalanche believe that one of them was going to be the winner and the other two the losers. Let him think that her and Chronos were going to get all the information and then give it to him without so much as a sweat drop from his lazy brow. 

He wasn’t going to win.

No, because the weapon knew that she would.

* * *

“This is the best time,” FS said, covering his mouth as he chewed and talked. Like Avalanche, although not as much, FS sprouted up and now stood to be just shy of two meters. However, since he was slouching and bending over in his chair, no one would’ve guessed. If anything, it looked as if he shrunk. The rest of him looked relatively the same, but because of the large amount of abuse over the year, his body had definitely shaped out. Muscles were toned and bulky, but not enough so for anyone to be intimidated. His height stretched them out so much that he was more likely to be underestimated before he would be feared.

Bad mistake.

His lunch mate nodded but said nothing more. While his friend had grown so tall, Stray remained his same old self. His hair had gotten a little shaggier over the year but was still chopped at his ears as to not be a hindrance.

Like some of the other trainees, Stray had gotten his share of battle scars. One in particular sliced across his left eyebrow and down into the eye socket, but stopped just above the eyelid. When he got it, the cut ran so far into the socket and had looked so serious, that everyone thought he’d lose the eye for sure. Although, after a good cleaning and some stitches, it turned out to be a one inch deep and four inch long cut that actually never touched the eye. Thank goodness the immediate diagnosis was wrong. After careful observation, Stray had taken a liking to the pinkish mark, thinking it made him look unique, and decided to leave it, though he had been told it would fade away in time.

Not like he needed to look any more unique than he already acted.

Looking up at his friend again, the grey-eyed boy just sighed. He honestly didn’t think that it was the “best” time to enact their plan, but since hearing about Eclipse’s disappearance, he too was feeling on edge and a little jumpy. They noticed her empty seat earlier that afternoon, but knew better than to ask questions. None of the recruits had gotten executed recently, at least not deliberately, so they figured she wasn’t dead. Stray had been on the other side of the building for most of the day and knew that she wasn’t over there, but other than those two options, the duo didn’t know where she could have gone. The trainees could never be late for classes and the punishment for skipping was immoral and painful, to say the least, so they knew that she couldn’t be in her room. The only things that they could think of were that she was either sent out on a mission, or transferred to another place entirely.

“She is the top one here,” Stray said aloud, continuing with his own train of thought. 

“The question is, though, is she coming back?” FS knew what his friend was talking about, having been running through the same options himself. “Because if she comes back and we’re—”

“We’ll just have to contact her later.” Stray lifted the top piece of bread off his sandwich and glanced at the lettuce sitting on a piece of ham. Grimacing at the rotting blotches on the slice, he decided to at least pick off the leaf and stuck it in his mouth. Seeing nothing else he wanted, he just pushed the rest off to the side.

“So, you agree?”

Stray hesitated, but when he finally nodded, FS stretched and got to his feet. “Let’s get out of here,” he muttered and grabbed the glass plate on his tray. He threw it hard onto the ground and couldn’t suppress the smirk when heard the sound of the others getting to their feet.

Their plan was in motion.

_Yes, let’s get out of here._

* * *

“Whose bright idea was this anyways?” Avalanche complained, pulling at the collar on his red polo. “I hate dressing up.” He winked at the waitress when she dropped off a glass of water and received a small blush. Only after she was gone did he scowl again and tamper with his shirt.

“Blame the girl. And this isn’t dressing up,” Chronos responded, opening the top two buttons of his own dress shirt. “Dressing up is a suit and tie.”

 _And you’re lucky I didn’t drag you out in those,_ Eclipse thought because she was almost going to do it. Knowing that it was still early evening and since no one really wanted to start digging into the complexities of Earth Alliance databases, the redhead figured that they should at least scout out the area. They really only had one lead as to where the prototypes would be and as she looked around the colony at the war-oblivious civilians, the ritzy restaurants, grocery stores, and bars, she guessed that the high-tech facility called Morgenroete was the only place of its kind on the satellite. They all knew that they couldn’t just walk onto the compound without some kind of ID—that would be too easy—so they figured they would just observe. After all, the first step of breaking in was to learn the security. 

The two boys had been all for the idea at first, but when they heard the rest of the plan, which involved a small café and possibly some role playing, and especially what they were going to wear, they were quick to argue. Eclipse wasn’t in the mood to bicker so one stern glance was enough to shut them up. 

Ah, the wrath of a woman.

The redhead was about to make a complaint of her own addressing her attire, but she knew they wouldn’t understand. For some reason, these guys in particular seemed to think that all girls enjoyed wearing legless pants. “Yes, I’ll have a cup of regular coffee, please.” The waitress nodded and turned to Chronos.

“Oh me? I’ll just have some green tea.” The soldier smiled sweetly before turning to Eclipse, giving her a strange look. Eclipse sighed, wondering how no one could see through their game.

The waitress nodded a thank you and turned to Avalanche. “And for you, sir?”

“I’ll just have another glass of water.” He watched her, almost too obviously, walk away before returning to the other two. “So why does it have to be you two that are dating?”

Chronos and Eclipse just groaned, not wanting to go through that argument again. They weren’t sure if Avalanche was acting like a child on purpose or if he was honestly pouting about the situation. Words were rarely exchanged at the facility (other than the threats and curses spewed during the battle simulations) so neither of them knew his true nature, but after everything that happened, the idea that a personality like his was still around seemed impossible.

Was it a ruse?

If not, they planned on kicking the mannerism out of him before the day was over. If they didn’t it was going to be a long week. But if it was a show, they were going to attack him for putting them through the torment and then try to kick it out of him just in case. 

Either way Avalanche was doomed.

“So why did you bring us here?” Chronos asked, returning to his redheaded companion. Eclipse looked back, but didn’t respond right away. “I know we have to eat and all, but I’m sure just some kind of fast food would’ve been fine.”

“Because this café’s near—” she paused and took a breath. Did she really need to explain herself? “It’s near my aunt’s house,” she said, hoping that her partners weren’t as dumb as they looked. She really didn’t want to say the name “Morgenroete” out loud just in case someone overheard and thanks to the confident looks they gave her, she knew she didn’t have to. She smiled then, more of a smirk, and reached out to take a sip of the water glass in front of her. 

The café was the closest place to Morgenroete that had some kind of food and drink. Most of the employees normally took their breaks as well as lunch and dinner here, so knowing that, this was probably the best place to snoop and find information. Many people were dressed in business clothing (skirts, buttoned-up tops, black pants, etc.) so that was the reason behind the outfits. 

Well, if anything it was amusing to see the boys squirm uncomfortably in their seats.

Chronos and Avalanche started arguing again over something useless (playing the role of brothers really well) so the redhead just tuned them out. She scouted the tables and kept her ears open. A pair of women at the table next to them were snickering over some little bit of gossip, but nothing of significance. The man at the table behind Avalanche was typing on his laptop. Eclipse could see part of the screen, but nothing of what was written. She sighed and kept looking.

A young lady, probably mid twenties, walked by their table and sat down in one of the corners. Eclipse smiled, catching a glimpse at her purse and the name tag dangling off of it. It said “Kirston McGumery. Office Assistant. Morgenroete.” She couldn’t believe her luck. The real reason she wanted to drag the boys out here was to find someone like this.

A target.

Eclipse knew that the only way she’d get into the facility was to steal someone’s identity. Looking at the two still bickering, she was confident that she couldn’t trust them to help her sneak in, so she had no choice. Glancing at the woman now she couldn’t suppress another smile. She stood to be about Eclipse’s height with short, light blue hair and gold eyes. There was some hair dying in her future, she knew, but that was a small price to pay. The girl’s face was a little more angular than the weapon’s but if no one really looked that closely, or if she just avoided all the people she knew, Eclipse would be alright. Seeing as Morgenroete was such a big facility, people probably didn’t really know each other that well anyway.

Not wanting draw attention to herself, Eclipse turned back to Avalanche and Chronos. Their argument was over, mainly because their drinks had arrived, and both were too occupied with them to continue the banter. Thank goodness. 

The woman spoke and Eclipse listened hard, trying to memorize the fluctuation and the tone in her voice. It was soft and somewhat timid. Hopefully that wasn’t a sign that her personality was the same way because that might be a problem. Eclipse couldn’t afford to be hesitant as soon as she got inside. Perhaps this girl would just act a little more reckless than usual for a couple of days. No one would notice.

“What d’ya say we have a look around?” Chronos asked, finishing the last of his tea. Eclipse snapped out of her trance and looked at him then down at her full cup of coffee. She had forgotten that the server had even brought it to her. 

“You guys go on ahead. I have a few things that my aunt wanted me to pick up. I’ll meet you back at the apartment once I take them over to her.” Both nodded, understanding the true meaning of the message and left, but not without Chronos playing his part by pecking a kiss on the redhead’s cheek. Avalanche rolled his eyes, but Eclipse just smiled, even forcing a blush.

“Don’t be long,” Chronos said then followed Avalanche.

Eclipse watched them go, but soon sighed when she realized that neither of them had paid their bill.

* * *

Eclipse returned to the apartment later that night having carefully followed Kirston McGumery to her own apartment. The weapon didn’t like the feeling of stalking someone and the thought of taking her place for a few days unnerved her even more. However, knowing that the switch would be relatively easy her fears gradually melted away. 

Kirston was recently hired on as an assistant to the main secretary of communications between the divisions inside Morgenroete. That information alone solidified her as Eclipse’s target. Tomorrow was going to be her fifth day working on that job and given that the head secretary was off until the end of the week, Kirston was in charge of most if not all the paperwork. At first Eclipse thought her employers just threw her in blindly, but Kirston had been a secretary for three years prior to the switch, so she did know what she was doing. That was a relief. Eclipse knew her share of office work and didn’t really feel like being the oblivious new girl.

All in all, Kirston was the perfect identity. After so much bad luck during the first few days at Januarias 4, Eclipse thought that things were going to slip through all the time. Apparently, all her luck came through for her now. No matter how ironic and perfect it seemed, she just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

“Where have you been?” Avalanche asked as he lied on one of the cots. His arms were folded behind his head and knees up, looking fairly comfortable.

“Just doing some research,” Eclipse responded, locking the door behind her and making her way to the open cot near the refrigerator.

“You gonna share?” Avalanche pressed, now turning to glance at her. “I thought we said we’d tell everyone everything?”

She sighed, still believing that Avalanche was just going to steal her information, but explained anyway. “I’m leaving early to finish some scouting. I’ll inform you after that what my plans are. What about you guys? Find anything?”

Chronos shrugged, suppressing a yawn. “It’s well-guarded, I’ll tell ya that much. We walked up to the entrance pretending to ask for directions. I’m surprised that the guards weren’t a little more suspicious of us, but anyway, I watched one of them monitor and check each individual ID as the employees started their shift. Even their blood type was listed on the blasted thing. They keep pretty good tabs on everyone, to say the least.”

“What about the perimeter?”

“Gates, barbed wire, cameras, guards, sensors, the typical things. Actually, it looked more like a prison than a research facility,” Chronos continued. “It’s split up into four separate buildings and each with another ID check.”

“There were a few transport vehicles leaving the compound while we were there. We’re thinking that there might be another building within the colony too,” Avalanche stated. 

“You guys gonna go look for that tomorrow while I do my own thing?” Eclipse asked, hoping that the answer would be yes. She really didn’t want them working on any sort of break in plan just yet. She wanted to try her own idea out and see where it led them. Infiltration would have to be their last option.

“That and some more observing at the main compound. How about we meet back here tomorrow night and update what we found out. That way none of us are left out, but we can still do our own thing if we want to,” Chronos suggested, receiving a nod from the other two.

Sounded like a plan.

* * *

Eclipse woke up early, changed, grabbed a breakfast bar, and left without waking the other two. She wasn’t quite sure when Kirston started work so her only option was to try and catch her as she left. That is if she worked this early.

Retracing the steps that she walked the night before, Eclipse found the apartment complex, avoided the gate by hopping the fence, and then snuck over to her target’s building. Kirston lived on the second floor in the west side of the complex. It was an expensive-looking building and relatively new, Eclipse noted. It probably wasn’t built more than five years ago. Figuring that the secretary got a pretty good paycheck each week, the weapon wasn’t too surprised that she had found such a nice place. 

Glancing up at her apartment window she saw no lights. At first that was worrisome, Eclipse wondering if her target had already left for work, but after about another hour and the sun having risen to just above the horizon, a lamp inside flickered on. Eclipse smirked and leaned back against the tree as she typed on her laptop. If anyone asked what she was doing there, all she had to say was that she was staying with her boyfriend in one of the apartments down a little ways and needed some peace and quite to work on a report for collage. A little advanced, but it was the only thing that she could think of. 

The redhead tugged her jacket a little tighter around her shoulders when a brisk wind blew by. She debated whether she really wanted to sit there the whole day or not. Given she had enough to do with her laptop and all (even bringing a portable Wi-Fi connection and an extra battery when the other one ran out) but it was going to be a long day if Kirston worked the night shift. 

The light in the apartment shut off fifteen minutes later and Eclipse froze. What if Kirston had a bunch of errands to run? The weapon didn’t want to have to stalk her the whole day because with so many people, it would get difficult and fast. Not to mention the fact that Kirston was bound to catch on sooner or later. At least, if she had any sense of spatial awareness she might.

The target reached the front door, slammed it, and walked down the sidewalk a little ways before noticing Eclipse and stopping. “Uh, excuse me?”

The Coordinator knew she hesitated, but didn’t look up until Kirston asked again. “Huh? Oh, good morning.”

“Uh, good morning. What’re you doing over there?” she asked, getting straight to the point. Finding the girl a little peculiar, Kirston even walked onto the grass to see what she was doing. Good thing she was of the curious kind.

“Oh me? I’m just doing some homework.”

“Homework?”

“Yeah. My boyfriend has some friends over and they’re a little too loud. Can’t even hear myself think, if you know what I mean.”

“They’re up this early?”

“More like they’re still up,” Eclipse responded, putting on a warm smile.

“Ah, I know how that goes. My ex was the same way. He was one of those guys that liked to party and stay up late and then sleep all day. I guess that’s easy to do when you don’t have a job. Stupid bum.”

“Sounds like you don’t miss him.”

“Not in the least.”

Eclipse smiled and forced out a chuckle. It was a strange feeling to laugh again. The weapon was surprised she even remembered how to do it. “I honestly don’t know why Craig does it. Oh, that’s my boyfriend by the way. He works about thirty hours a week, so he doesn’t always have to wake up early either, but on his days off he parties until late, or even early like today. Sleeping in like that the next day though sounds like a waste of time if you ask me.”

“I think so too,” Kirston said, a smile gracing her own lips. Either she was very friendly, or just wanted to rant about her ex. Eclipse wasn’t too sure, but she took advantage of the opportunity anyway. “I’m a morning person myself. Always have been,” she continued.

“It’s a good trait, I think. There’s not enough people like us around nowadays.”

“I agree, but I guess there has to be a few night people to balance us out.”

“A little too many if you ask me. Craig has a lot of friends, unfortunately.”

“Sounds rough. Well, if you ever find yourself needing to get out again, by all means buzz my apartment, 608. It’d be a little dryer on rainy days and I always have a pot of coffee brewing.”

“Thank you for the offer, I’ll definitely consider it. Oh, I’m Kari Crescent, by the way,” Eclipse said, leaning forward and extending a hand.

“Oh, how silly of me. I’m Kirston McGumery. I just said that you could visit me whenever, but I never gave you my name. Sorry `bout that.” She grasped the weapon’s hand and shook it firmly, smiling all the while.

“Oh no, that’s quite alright.”

“Unfortunately,” Kirston went on, glancing down at the watch on her wrist. “I have to be getting to work. My shift starts in a half hour. It was really nice to meet you, Kari.”

“And you too. I’m sure I’ll take you up on that offer. Craig doesn’t have to work tomorrow either.” They both smiled and Kirston waved a good-bye before disappearing around the corner. Eclipse waited a moment then sighed and got to her feet, closing her laptop as she did. She stuffed it in her backpack and then followed close behind the secretary. 

But not too close.

* * *

“Would you like some more coffee, miss?” the waiter asked, leaning down to meet Eclipse eye-to-eye and holding the regular pot of coffee in his right hand. 

The redhead smiled, nodded, and then poured some more creamer into the cup once he left. She had followed Kirston to the compound, noted what building she entered, but couldn’t see more than that. Either she’d walk blindly through the building until she found her workplace, or she’d just ask Kirston the next morning during coffee. 

Eclipse figured she’d just ask. 

The target hadn’t walked back past the café since she went into the facility and that had almost been eight hours ago. No, Eclipse hadn’t been drinking caffeinated beverages for the past eight hours straight, that would be one hell of a tip, but had stopped in about fifteen minutes ago waiting for Kirston to get out of work. Knowing that she grabbed a bite around this time yesterday, Eclipse was hoping she’d do the same today. 

“Kari?”

Bingo.

“Oh, hey Kirston.”

“Craig still bothering you?”

“No, actually they’re all passed out now, but the place is so trashed that I can’t even get to the bathroom, let alone the kitchen. I came here to eat instead.”

“Sounds like he’ll have a lot of cleaning to do.”

“No, he’ll probably make me do it.”

She laughed at that and pulled out a chair. “Oh, you don’t mind, do you?” Eclipse shook her head and Kirston moved on. “So why are you still with him if he treats you like that?”

The Coordinator shrugged. “Love is a painful thing sometimes.”

“Yeah, but not like that.”

Eclipse shrugged again. “You take the good with the bad, right? Anyway, how was work?” It was a harmless question, the weapon knew. Nothing to be suspicious about.

She shrugged. “It was alright. Kind of frustrating though. No one really knows me, so they always mess up my name or decide not to even say it at all. I’m pretty sure they’re blind because I’m wearing a name tag. For goodness sake, the guys were all staring at my chest anyway. All they had to do was look two more inches to the right, but no they’d just rather call me ‘girly’ or ‘you.’ I should buy one of those shirts that has an arrow and says, ‘My face is up here, jackass.’ But then again they’ll probably just say something like ‘My name isn’t jackass, girly, it’s Ralph.’ Some of them just seemed that dumb.”

 _She has a sense of humor,_ Eclipse thought, laughing only as much as she dared. She almost burst out laughing completely, but having a cup of hot coffee at your mouth doesn’t really allow for such antics. Not to mention her cheeks would’ve hurt from the large amount of abuse. She hadn’t laughed that way for ages. “At least they recognize you. At school sometimes the kid next to me thinks I’m a new student even though I’ve been sitting next to him for half of the semester. It gets pretty annoying when he asks, ‘You new?’ every time I sit down.”

“Man, that’s gotta suck.”

“Oh, it does.” A short silence passed, allowing Eclipse to type a few more sentences on her fake report. The redhead was actually getting into writing it. She almost felt bad when she realized she’d never finish it, or get it graded.

“I should actually get going. I promised a friend that I’d call her when I got out of work. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow morning right?”

“If it’s not too strange.”

“Strange? Why would you say that?”

“I mean think about it. We only just met and I could be some homicidal stalker or something.” Ironic. Terribly ironic.

Kirston laughed and shook her head. “Oh, you’re too nice for that and besides, I like to help out people when I can. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bright and early.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for stopping in, folks! Finally made it to Heliopolis and we get to read all the excitement of... playing house. Things will be heating up soon as the information gathering progresses, and we'll get to see some more familiar characters soon. 
> 
> Didn't do much editing to this one other than to tone down the snark a bit. Damn, I really had something against the male sex back in the day... Well, I'll apologize in advance for the vulgar-ness, and if it gets to be too much, just let me know. I'm finding it hard to judge that type of thing nowadays and it's so audience based that I'm just shooting in the dark at the moment. Keep me posted.
> 
> I realized something the other day as I was editing this chapter. Primarily for this story I had watched each Gundam SEED episode at least 2 times. The middle and end chapters I watched the most, but the beginning two chapters I think I watched 2 times... I just am not a fan of the beginning episodes of this series. 
> 
> Anyway, enough from me for now. I think I figured out this note thing and it probably has more to do with the fact that you can't "schedule" chapters to go up. That meant I was pre-uploading chapters and they all had the same posting date. Thus, the notes were getting a bit bundled up... Anyway, sorted now I think. ...I think.
> 
> See you next chapter and thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your thoughts and for taking time out of your busy day.
> 
> Strata


	9. Life's a Bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plan goes forward with Eclipse's target Kirston. A little chatting. A little drugging. A little life stealing. You know, typical Eclipse stuff.

**Life’s a Bitch**

“Finally,” Avalanche muttered, watching Eclipse closely as she locked the door. 

The redhead could feel his gaze and it wasn’t warm and fluffy. Quite the opposite actually. Oh well, whoever gave Avalanche his code name was closer to the truth than they thought. _Kudos for them,_ Eclipse thought and turned around, not even bothering to look at him. 

“So, what’cha got to tell us?” Chronos asked, always straight and to the point it seemed. 

“You first. I want to see if what I have planned will help you two at all.”

Chronos just shrugged, not really caring either way. “Fine. Avalanche was right and there is a smaller facility about seven miles from the main complex. Security’s tighter there so that might be the place that they’re keeping the suits.”

“Or just the raw materials,” Avalanche jumped in. “We didn’t see any technicians or mechanics around so we’re thinking that it’s just a storage area.”

“So, the visitors or people not involved in the development won’t get suspicious. I’m sure that all those parts were bound to attract attention sooner or later if they were just sitting unattended at the main compound,” Eclipse observed, setting her laptop down on her cot before going to the kitchen sink for some tap water to drink.

“Then again, wouldn’t it just be easier to keep both the materials and the machines in the same area?” Avalanche wondered aloud. 

“Easier yes, but safer no,” Chronos responded. “If the building was found on its own they could just make up some excuse as to why such materials were there, but if the suits were there too then they’d be trapped. Morgenroete has enough going on that the plans for the suits probably weren’t even questioned.”

“Most likely all the parts are being made in different sectors,” Eclipse continued, agreeing with his reasoning. She took a sip out of her glass but spit it out the moment it hit her tongue. She had hoped that the water was the thing swishing around her mouth and not something else. Not really wanting to find out, she dumped it all into the sink and walked over to the fridge, talking as if nothing unusual happened. “Either they aren’t assembled yet, or have just recently been. I don’t know their completion date so we can’t know for sure.”

“If the parts aren’t assembled yet then we might be in a bit of a jam. I’m not sure what the Commander planned on doing once we got him the information, but I’m thinking he might just try and steal them. If Orb is working with the Earth Forces than this colony would no longer sustain its neutral state.” Avalanche saw Eclipse opening the fridge and called for her to get him something. She sighed, but grabbed a soda anyway and tossed it over to his cot. 

“So, basically, he could barge in and no one could say anything about it,” Chronos said, catching the can that the redhead threw to him next. “You’re right. If the parts were scattered about the place then they’d never get them all.”

“I think that’s where I can come in.” Eclipse twisted the top off the bottled water and took a long drink. She met curious stares when her head leveled again but waited until she was sitting down on her cot to continue. “I’ve been following one of the secretaries that works in Morgenroete. She’s about my height, same body, but our looks definitely clash. I’ll tell you more about that later. I’m going to use her identity to get into the place and look through the files. Maybe I’ll even get a glimpse of the suits if I’m lucky.”

“If they’re assembled,” Avalanche reminded her.

“I plan on finding that out,” Eclipse said. 

“That sounds like a good idea and all, but by the looks of things you’ve only been tailing this girl for a little over a day. What makes you think that you can just mimic her every move and fool everyone?” Chronos asked.

The redhead had to agree. She was having the same fears herself, but from what she could tell no one really knew Kirston. Even if they did, they were most likely on the other side of the facility or in a different wing altogether. “She just transferred to a new part of the building and no one really knows her. There’s a lot of people in the place too. It’s hard to keep names and faces straight when that’s the case.”

“Chronos is on to something,” Avalanche stressed. “It’s a risky move.”

“Well, what did you two have in mind? Break in?” 

“We were thinking about it,” he replied, ruffling his hair as if he was thinking it over.

“It’s our safest bet,” Chronos continued.

“Safest bet? Guys, it’d take one hell of a plan to get into the place, find the information and prototypes, get out, and then make it to the Commander all in one night. Not to mention that _nothing_ could go wrong and we have a week timeframe to come up with something? That would be our first mistake if we thought our plan was perfect after that short of time. Why not give me a chance and then if something goes wrong—”

“Terribly wrong…” Avalanche muttered but she ignored him.

“If something goes wrong then you two can try to infiltrate.”

“Well, if you did get caught then the security would be upped and the machines moved. How do you propose we find them then?” Chronos shook his head. “No, we’d have a better chance of getting inside with the three of us together.”

“So, you’re not even going to give me a chance?”

“No, we can’t afford—” Chronos began, but Avalanche stopped him with an upheld hand.

“Wait, why don’t we let her go? We can be her eyes and ears outside while she’s on the inside. This could work.”

“And how do you expect us to communicate?” Eclipse asked, a little wary. She didn’t like the look in Avalanche’s eyes. They looked too confident. And she definitely didn’t like his sudden change in tone. _Now_ he liked her idea? Perhaps he knew something that she didn’t? 

Was he winning in this game after all?

Holding up a finger to pause them, he leaned over and fished through his front pocket, producing a small white and black gizmo with a screen on the front and an antennae sticking out from the top. It was a cell phone, or at least some older version of one. “With this.”

Inside the facility itself no one had been allowed electronics such as cell phones and tablets. Laptops were okay, because the recruits had been required to do their own research, but any outside communication was monitored. Cell phones in particular weren’t allowed because of their easy access to the outside world. Many of the recruits kept theirs anyway and apparently Avalanche was among them.

Chronos and Eclipse stopped, glancing at each other briefly before looking back at their teammate. That was ballsy. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Eclipse countered first. Chronos just hung his head.

“What? It makes sense to me.”

“Obviously,” the redhead muttered.

“No, listen. This’ll work. If anything happens, we’ll message your target’s phone.”

“Message me? So, tell me, will I get the warning after I’m captured or can you actually type that fast?”

“You’ll get it quickly. I have a speaker on my phone that will record everything I say and then send it to someone in word-form. Here, I’ll show you.” He flipped open the top, punched one button and then spoke into the bottom of the phone softly. Eclipse couldn’t hear it, but Chronos chuckled slightly. Now the redhead really didn’t want to read it.

“How will you get her number?” she asked. 

“You’ll send me a message from her phone,” the soldier smirked. “Here, I’ll send it to myself so you can see what to expect.” He took a moment to set up the transmission and handed the phone to her when he had finished.

Eclipse felt ridiculous. She hadn’t even touched such a contraption since the first day of training, so she felt a bit foolish, to say the least. The symbol of a closed envelope was in the bottom left-hand corner and the weapon sighed again. She went to her menu and opened the message, shaking her head on what it said. It read: “I told you this would work!”   
She sighed and handed the phone back. “Fine, we do it your way. Tell me your number and I’ll memorize it.” He did just that and she ran the numbers through her head a few times, coming up with a strategy to remember it and nodded. “So, we’re clear on my plan then?” They shrugged and nodded, shifting to start whatever was next on their list of priorities.

“Wait, one more thing. I need you two to help me with something.”

“Like what?” Chronos asked, looking a tad curious. He was almost cute at that moment, but Eclipse really couldn’t put her finger on why. Maybe it was the innocent glint in eyes. 

How often could a weapon pull that off?

The redhead just smirked and walked over to her bag and couldn’t help but wonder how they’d react.

Would she look good with blue hair?

* * *

Eclipse, now a bluehead, tucked the last strand of hair under the hat. It looked like a Picasso painting gone wrong (if those could go wrong) with as many colors that were etched on the masterpiece itself. In fact, the hat looked like something Picasso probably wore, unless it was just the common stereotype. 

Yes, it was one of those poofy, knitted things that had the pompom sitting on the very top. 

Chronos had been in charge of finding the headgear the night before and even though he really didn’t have enough time to browse, more like he quit 10 minutes in, Eclipse wished he would have found something a little more… modern. Knowing she didn’t have anymore time to argue, she left the apartment and the boys to their beauty sleep.

She told them that she started work at eight and they had to be up by then. Looking at them now she was getting a little nervous, however they haven’t let her down.

Not yet anyway.

She tugged the jacket closer to her body as she walked, going through every detail. She was going to meet Kirston in her apartment for coffee, slip her the drug and then take off from there to work. Eclipse hoped that the morning would go by swiftly because she really couldn’t afford any delays. There was a worried mantra circulating in the back of her mind that was making her second guess the girl’s daily, full-time schedule, but she couldn’t worry about that now. If Kirston didn’t work that day, she was fucked and would just have to try and salvage the situation as best she good.

If everything went according to plan, she tried to convince herself, she had eight hours to play with during her work shift, but remembering what she had to do and what she had to find out, eight hours just didn’t seem enough.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so much doubt.

She quietly cursed the feeling.

 _You’ll be fine,_ she tried to remind herself and stopped near Kirston’s building. She checked her watch, 6:00. Was it too early? The bluehead backed up a step and looked up into her window. There seemed to be some kind of light shining through, but whether or not it was a nightlight the weapon wasn’t sure. Taking another long breath, she finished the hike to the main door and reached out to buzz the bell to her room. 

_Please let her be awake._

“Yes? Kari, is that you?”

 _Yay!_ Wow, Eclipse felt a little out of character after that emotion. “G’morning Kirston. I didn’t wake you, did I? I’d feel so bad if I did.”

“Oh no, I’ve been up for a while now. Please, c’mon up.”

Eclipse waited for the door to click open and stepped inside. Taking the stairs two at a time, she reached the room and knocked lightly, not wanting to awaken any of her neighbors. Kirston answered after the first knock with a bright smile on her face. Apparently, she was a morning person. Eclipse wasn’t even sure if she could pull off that smile. 

Well, she tried anyway. “Hey.”

“Nice hat.” She was still in her pajamas and they looked quite comfortable. Eclipse actually envied her. The weapon was wearing jeans and a white tank top under a black sports sweater. The thing that threw the whole outfit off was the hat and the red purse that hung awkwardly on her arm. At least those two things matched. It was the most comfortable clothing that she had worn in a while, but Kirston looked downright cozy. Wearing some cutoff, green sweatpants that fell to just below her knees and a baggy t-shirt Eclipse found herself getting tired again. 

It was a strange feeling.

“Nice shirt,” Eclipse stated, reading the front again for her own amusement. It said: “Life’s a bitch. Get a dog.”

“You like it? My mom got it for me for Christmas last year.”

“She’s got a good sense of humor.”

Kirston smiled again and stepped aside so that Eclipse could walk inside. Just as she assumed the day before, the apartment was relatively new and ritzy at that. It wasn’t terribly large, but definitely larger than the one that the weapon was sharing with the boys. It had a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a living room the size of Eclipse’s current apartment. The carpet was very white, but hey, if Kirston didn’t think she’d spill anything then why should she doubt her? The furniture was modern and colored with a soft tan. The walls were almost just as white as the carpet with a boarder at the top and the bottom the color maroon.

“Homely,” Eclipse commented and Kirston smiled again. Apparently, people can be that happy at six in the morning. The weapon always considered herself a morning person too, but she could never pull off the smile. 

Perhaps that was what made a true early bird.

The weapon found herself a little sad at the realization.

“Craig and his friends up still?”

“No, they collapsed about an hour ago. The offer still stands though right?”

“Oh, of course! I’ve actually been watching for you to walk down the sidewalk. Kinda felt like one of those homicidal stalkers that you were talking about yesterday.” She laughed lightly, but Eclipse could only force out a chuckle. 

Kirston had no idea.

“Oh, how rude of me, please sit down. I’ll get you a cup of coffee. Cream and sugar?”

The weapon nodded, smiled, and then followed her direction to sit down at the table. It was an elegant piece of work, but not so elegant that Eclipse was afraid to touch it. Ivy designs climbed up each of the legs and spread out onto the wooden top that sat four people snugly. She ran a hand lightly over the carved artwork, but it was as smooth as silk. 

“Here.” The target placed a mug down on the table, careful to put a napkin underneath it so as not to leave a ring on the table. Eclipse knew that mugs normally didn’t leave marks on wood, but she wasn’t about to argue. This was Kirston’s home. “Where does Craig work? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. He actually works in the Mining District at a factory there that refines the minerals. It’s a tough job, I’ll give him that. Perhaps that’s why I don’t mind if he has a few friends over once in a while. He deserves it.”

“Well, sometimes,” Kirston joked, stirring her coffee in order to make it cool off faster. 

“Sounds to me like you don’t really have a high opinion of men.”

“No, not really. Getting dumped a few times will do that to ya.”

“I guess so, but you can’t just give up. How bad did your ex treat you anyway?”

“Well…”

“Oh! I’m sorry that was rude of me. If you don’t want to talk about it then don’t.”

“No, Kari, you’re sweet and thanks, but I was actually trying to think of a nice way to put it. Whenever I start talking about Kharl I get a little out of hand.”

“Oh.” Eclipse involuntarily slid her chair back a few inches.

“Here, let me find a picture of him so that you can understand things a little better.”

“A picture?”

“Yeah. I guess I just want to see what you think about him.”

“Okay,” Eclipse responded, not finding any reason to argue. If anything, it would get her out of the room for a few minutes. Watching her go, she felt bad. She knew that Kirston had a lot of faith in her and yet here she was about to drug her coffee. In the back of her mind, the weapon blamed her target, saying that she brought it on herself for placing so much trust in people she just met, but that would have been unfair. Kirston was just a kind-hearted individual and living inside a peaceful colony just made her barriers a tad thin was all.

Eclipse sighed and slipped a hand into her pocket, pulling out a small package of white powder. She heard Kirston mutter “I know one’s around here somewhere,” before opening it and dumping the contents into the drink. The weapon checked her watch and nodded. 

It would start working in about a half hour. 

“Found one!” the target yelled and walked back to the table. Eclipse put on a warm smile. Her insides squirmed at her ability to look so kind after knowing what she had just done. 

What had that place done to her?

Kirston slid the picture across the table and the Coordinator stopped it with a finger, turning it right-side up. She nearly spit out her coffee.

He was gorgeous.

“Holy shit,” she said in awe, but covered her mouth the second she realized what she said. Perhaps Kirston didn’t appreciate her ex being so admired, let alone having the only words to describe his beauty be swear ones. That usually meant everyday language wouldn’t suffice. 

The man, Kharl by name, looked to be a little older than Kirston. He had dark, teal hair that was cut short to his scalp with one delicate strip of white passing from front to back on his right side. In this picture, he seemed to be pointing at it with one tan finger and winking one of his light green eyes. He wore a black blazer with a green dress shirt to match his eyes, top three buttons hanging open and no tie. Black pants and dress shoes finished the outfit and the red rose in his hand made the picture seem complete. His smile took her breath away. _It’s like FS’s,_ she realized a second later and found her cheeks blushing for real. Their relationship had been bumpy since her and her friends decided to split up, but Eclipse never got rid of her affection for him. A crush perhaps? 

Funny how while most of her emotions were stolen, the biggest one hung on.

“He’s a looker, isn’t he? Don’t worry about hiding that blush of yours.” Eclipse was about to explain the real reason she was blushing, but she stopped, seeing Kirston take a sip of her coffee. 

So, it begins.

“How could you be mad at him?”

“Why, do you think that just because he’s good-looking that he’s perfect?”

“No. I didn’t mean that. I guess I was just wondering what happened was all.”

“Well, he did the typical guy thing and cheated on me.”

“Oh, you’re right that is typical and painful. I’m sorry that it happened.”

“With my sister.”

Eclipse cringed and couldn’t disguise her disgust. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Nope. They’re getting married next month.”

“Ouch. Well, at least he’ll still be around so that you can exact your revenge.”

“That _is_ true.” She smirked with an evil glint in her eye and then took another sip, well more like a gulp. The coffee by then had cooled down some, so she was able to drink freely. Eclipse found herself sighing before taking a long drink of her own.

The powder wasn’t meant to kill her, Eclipse’s admiration for the target breaking through in the last second. She had changed the dosage just before leaving the guys behind in the apartment, but not enough so that things wouldn’t get painful. 

She was still a weapon after all.

“Hey, Kari. What time is it?” Kirston asked, pulling at the collar of her shirt. 

Eclipse looked up from the magazine that she was reading and set the mug with her second cup of coffee back down on the table. She knew that Kirston could see the clock easily from where she was sitting on the sofa, but as soon as she looked up at her face, she knew why she asked. 

The target’s face was ghostly pale and faint sweat drops freckled her forehead. Her eyelids were a tad droopy and her breath came out a little faster than normal. Eclipse could tell that she was trying hard to cover up her condition, but, unfortunately, she wasn’t very good at that sort of thing. 

“It’s quarter to seven.” Half hour; right on the mark. “Your shift starts at eight, right? You don’t leave this early, do you?” Eclipse decided to make Kirston believe that she was masking her illness well. The confidence booster and all.

She hesitated, blinked a few times before finally stuttering an answer. “Y-yeah it starts at eight. Uh, no, I don’t leave this early. J-just wondering.” Placing a hand on her forehead she leaned forward on the table and took a few deep breaths.

“Kirston? You all right?”

Another long breath and she was looking up with a smile. Her face still gave her away though. “S-sure, I’m fine. You want more coffee?”

Eclipse looked down at her mug, saw it three quarters of the way full and hid a smirk. 

The drug was working.

“No, I think I’m good for now—Kirston!” The target had tried standing and nearly took her coffee with her when she stumbled. The weapon figured that she just had one huge head rush from getting up so fast and when she saw her stagger and grasping onto her chair, Eclipse knew she wasn’t far off target. “Woah! Hey, sit down!”

“N-no, I’m—” She stopped and her eyes bulged, a hand slapping over her mouth. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Eclipse wasn’t going to tell her otherwise as she fled the room. After all she didn’t want to be there to see it. Given she had seen a fair amount of unpredictable bodily functions over the past year, she was always touchy when it came to that particular bodily reaction.

The bathroom door slammed shut and there was only a split second before Eclipse could hear the target retching into the toilet and the sound made her gag.

When Kirston began round two, Eclipse went to the door. She sucked in a big breath before knocking. “Kirston? Are you—” Another gut-wrenching sound and Eclipse almost gagged again. _Didn’t think so_ , she thought and took a step back before the smell could get the best of her. “Do you want me to call your work? I really don’t think you should go in if you’re feeling like this.”

The target was allowed a small break where she took some well-needed breaths before responding. “Yeah could ya? The number’s on the fridge. Just tell `em that I’m sick and to have Diane take over. They’ll know what I’m talking about.”

“Alright.” The Coordinator backed away once she started vomiting again and went into the kitchen and picked up the girl’s cell phone. She saw the number on the fridge, but punched in Avalanche’s number instead. Only waiting for it ring once, Eclipse started talking into the receiver. “Hi, I’m afraid that Kirston won’t be able to come into work today.” She waited a moment. “It’s the flu, I think. She’s in the bathroom right now and it doesn’t sound melodious if that’s why you asked `Why not`.” She paused another second and waited for Avalanche’s grumbling to end. He had caught onto the ruse and was in the middle of muttering how he would have just appreciated a text. “I’ll let her know. Oh, she also told me to have Diane take over for her. She said you’d understand.” Eclipse did one more second of acting, nodded and then said good-bye before Avalanche’s mutterings could get worse. 

“Kirston?” Eclipse called over to the bathroom. “They said don’t worry about anything and just to get better soon. Diane’ll take care of it all.” She avoided the personal pronouns just in case the target knew the clerk better than the weapon thought. She didn’t want to lose her cover now that she was so close.   
No response.

“Kirston?” The weapon went over to the door and pushed it open a crack. Even though the smell caused her stomach to spin circles, the sight of Kirston lying on the floor was enough to block out her senses. 

Was she dead?

Eclipse knew that she didn’t put enough powder in the drink to kill the girl, but perhaps each person took to the drug differently. Looking at her mouth and the contents inside the toilet the bluehead saw some speckles of blood and her gut twisted again. There were really two reasons that she didn’t want to kill Kirston. One was because of her admiration for the girl, but the real reason was because the three weapons would be able to hide their tracks better with her alive. If she didn’t show up at work tomorrow and Eclipse wasn’t there to take her place how suspicious would that look? And then to come to her house and find her dead on the floor? Just a bit strange and not to mention a huge hindrance to the bigger plan. Commander Le Creuset wouldn’t be able to act without the PLANTs Supreme Council’s approval and that would no doubt take time. If they found Kirston dead before ZAFT could counterattack, the mobile suits might be gone and in the hands of the Earth Forces. That’s if Morgenroete suspected the worse and looking at the reason she would’ve died, it seemed like a pretty good assumption. Poison wasn’t always a common way to kick the bucket.

The weapon bent down and checked the main artery in her neck for a pulse. A sigh of relief followed a strong beat. Kirston just passed out. Walking back to the dining table, Eclipse fished through her purse and found a small prescription bottle. She pushed down on the top, turned it to the left and looked inside. There were about eight, small, white, circular pills on the bottom. She had gotten the bottle refilled about a month ago, so that was the reason why there were so few, but she could honestly say that this was one of the last things she’d use them for. 

During the first week of training she had been ordered to take the medicine before every mobile suit class and mission. The first few sessions she had forgotten to take them and only when Captain Vindur noticed and took disciplinary action did she never forget again. Eclipse wasn’t too sure what they did, only that they were related to how well she faired in combat. No one else in the facility had pills like she did, so the procedure was a little curious, but she wouldn’t dare argue. At first the drug made her nauseous and dizzy, but as soon as her adrenaline kicked in, she would get some kind of energy boost. It was a weird, but exhilarating feeling. Her reaction time was faster as well as her thinking and how well she thought. She gained more stamina, strength, and pain tolerance. The weapon figured that the pills were somehow triggered by that adrenaline output and the increased blood flow caused by her battle lust dispersed the drug quickly throughout her system. 

But, it worked the opposite way too; at least until Eclipse’s body created some kind of immunity to the side effects. If they were taken at a time of low adrenaline levels such as resting or during classes, the medicine would put its consumer to sleep and keep them asleep for quite a long time depending on the dosage. On the nights that the weapon’s nightmares were the worse, she’d take a pill or two and fall into an almost comatose-like state. 

At least she got some sleep.

She was hoping now that the same thing would happen with Kirston. As long as she was out for at least the next eight hours everything would be okay. Eclipse could always stop over after work and give her another pill to last throughout the night. Maybe the target would be able to go to work the next day and not make things look suspicious, but Eclipse doubted it. The drug that she gave her would probably last for two days at least and Kirston would most likely call into work the next for real this time. Hopefully, Eclipse would be gone by then, but all of that depended on how well her little plan went.

No pressure.

Walking back to the bathroom, she knelt down by the target and turned on the sink. Reaching up with a cupped hand, she gathered some water and began throwing it across her face, yelling her name each time she did. Eclipse didn’t want to shake her or move her head in case she hurt something when she fainted, so water was the only option. 

Funny how she was willing to have her vomit her guts out, but felt bad if she jammed a finger in her fall.

Kirston woke up about five minutes later soaked. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and Eclipse gave her the water to drink this time. She took it eagerly and only after the second glass did she start retching again. “Here, I found this in your medicine cabinet. It’s should help with your upset stomach and hopefully help you sleep. You look awful and I got a little worried when you fainted so please take it. I have class at 8:30 and would feel a lot better knowing that you’re resting.”

“W-what is it?” Kirston asked, her voice hoarse from all the abuse. She spit into the toilet before flushing it and turning back to Eclipse. 

_Hopefully she’ll keep it down,_ the weapon thought, holding out two of the pills. Kirston looked down at them and picked them up gingerly, looking at Eclipse the whole time. The soldier nodded encouragingly and offered another glass of water.

She took it.

Eclipse wasn’t quite sure how Kirston could be so trusting and thinking about that now made her feel a tad guilty. She had taken advantage of the target’s position at work, her kind-hearted nature, and looks in order to sneak into Morgenroete and steal information. It all seemed so cruel and for a split second she debated just forgetting the whole thing and going back to Avalanche and Chronos. 

She almost quit.

Almost, but not quite.

* * *

Kirston was knocked out within 15 minutes and sleeping soundly. Eclipse managed to carry her to her bedroom and laid her down on the bed, even throwing some covers over to keep her warm. She looked through her closet, found an outfit and then left the room.

After the door was closed and everything settled, the weapon went back to the kitchen, put in her golden contacts, filtered through both purses, swapped hers for Kirston’s, and then tried on the outfit. She picked out a pair of grey slacks (that were a little big, but nothing that a safety pin couldn’t fix) with the same color jacket and a forest green blouse for underneath. She grabbed some black flats to finish off the outfit mainly because anything with heels wouldn’t fit her feet. She didn’t remember the hat until she was about to leave and shook out her hair once it was off. Fiddling with it for a moment she glanced in the microwave door, using the faint reflection to see how she looked. Looks were good but how about her acting?

Time to find out.

Off to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for stopping by! Another chapter edited. This one took me a bit longer to get to despite the fact that I didn't end up changing much. I've had a huge burst of creative energy for Book 3 in this series which is unfortunate because I'm still in the middle of Book 2... Oh well. Writing is writing, right?
> 
> We get a peak into Moregenroete in the next chapter in what is bound to be an interesting bit of acting from Eclipse. Though, she seems to have slipped into her role quite easily so far. We'll see how she fairs as the charismatic Kirston.
> 
> Thanks, as always, for taking a moment out of your busy lives to have a read of this story. We're almost at SEED, I promise!


	10. Working with Egotistical Fools

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Infiltrating Morgenroete on Heliopolis. What could go wrong?

** Working with Egotistical Fools **

Eclipse got into Morgenroete just fine, at least better than she thought she would. Kirston’s ID worked, which was obviously a good thing, but at first the weapon was afraid the guards were actually going to take a blood sample. She had managed to fill a small vial at the last second, but the exact specifics on how to make sure they had taken Kirston’s blood and not her own as still being churned in her mind. The guards decided at the last second to just let her go through, saying something like they only pricked fingers the first few days on the job and then at different intervals throughout the year. 

More lucky streaks for Eclipse it seemed. The thing was though, when would they run out?

She didn’t want to think about it.

Kirston’s office wasn’t too far inside. Actually, it was through the first door. That was a relief mainly because Eclipse didn’t want to be wandering around and looking like a fool. She felt eyes on her back as it was. Perhaps she was just being paranoid? _I hope so,_ she thought and pulled out the rolling chair to sit down. 

There were a wide variety of sticky notes plastered on papers and scattered about the desk. Colors ranged from black (white ink) all the way to her least favorite color pink. She figured that each sector had a different color and looking at the pink one now, she kind of dreaded what kind of area that was. The black looked promising so she picked up that one first.

Reading the note silently, she looked at the papers and slid over to the filing cabinet. She opened the drawer, looked through the folders, found the one she was looking for, took out the needed papers and put the ones in her hands inside. _I guess I should look like I’m doing some sort of work._ Sliding back to the desk she grabbed the next bunch of papers and did the same thing. 

She stood up in order to reach the top drawer and pulled it out carefully. This paper, one having the green note, had the brief mention of metal attachments, but nothing more. Figuring that she might be on to something, she fiddled through the other papers in the folder. One of them looked promising. She pulled it halfway out and glanced over it briefly, keeping her ears open to any sound that might alert her to another employee. As she hoped, it was a list of shipping records.

Perfect.

Glancing down at her watch she couldn’t help but smirk. She was about twenty minutes into her shift and already she found something of use. 

She switched the papers, taking out the shipping records along with the needed ones and slid back over to the desk and computer. She jiggled the mouse, causing the sickening screensaver that said “Morgenroete” in bold letters and bounced endlessly from corner to corner to disappear. The background itself was relatively plain. Eclipse was surprised at first because knowing Kirston, it would’ve been something amusing or flashy at least. Maybe she just didn’t have enough time to settle in yet. There were a few interesting icons littering the screen, and she ended up clicking one that had the same department number as one of the sectors that was receiving shipments. 

The glass door slid open. “Miss, could you direct me to Department 25B?”

Eclipse looked up at the bushy-eyed and scraggly bearded gentleman before flashing her “Miss Universe Pageant” smile. “Of course.”

No matter how close she was to the information, she was even closer to getting caught. 

It wasn’t a comforting feeling.

“You set up Eclipse’s computer, right? She’d be pretty angry if you didn’t,” Chronos asked, taking the binoculars from his teammate. The two of them were lying hidden in a small wooden area on a hill that overlooked Morgenroete. The position was ideal, to say the least, but only if the person spying was only looking at the buildings around the eastern edge of the complex. Either it was purposeful or just plain stupidity that the two of them were on the wrong side. Eclipse’s building was on the outermost edge of the western half.

They probably did it on purpose.

“Yes, I set it up, Chronos, so stop worrying. I know the temper of our little redheaded pet and have no intention of striking that match.” Avalanche scowled as he responded, pulling at the collar of his blue T-shirt. The two of them wore the common, blue jeans and shirt to keep away suspicion, but being sprawled out on the ground didn’t make any material fit comfortably.

“If you don’t plan on pissing her off then what the hell are we doing here? You know we’re in the wrong area.”

“She won’t be angry once we’re through with everything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If the girl wants to play secret agent then so be it. I have no reason to stop her.”

“But—”

“I’m not just going to let her steal all the glory for this one.”

“All the glory? Avalanche, this mission has nothing to do with—”

“Did you know that whoever comes back with the most information or has the most valuable info will be allowed the leave Januarias 4? Just think, Chronos. If we sneak in and find the suits, maybe take one or two, or even get some data from the things personally we’d be able to leave that hell hole.” Avalanche paused and looked over at his comrade. He scanned his face for any kind of acceptance or perhaps eagerness, but saw only confusion.

However, that confusion had potential.

The temptation of getting out of that damned facility was too much for any weapon to resist, even one as detached as Chronos. Everyone knew of the horrors and the nightmares alone would make any individual grow unstable. In fact, Avalanche figured that most of the recruits back at the compound were in fact going insane. 

Hell, maybe even he was.

Then again maybe he just hated Eclipse so much that putting her up as bait didn’t bother him in the least. She was, after all, the one to bump him from his throne as number one at the place.

Pride tended to lash out when wounded.

“Chronos, just think. No more executions, no more tortures. No more punishments for something as little as forgetting to make your bed in the morning.”

The boy’s eyes were widening and Avalanche had to cover up his smirk. The part about getting out of their prison was true enough, but they would most likely be thrown headfirst into the war and considering what they were trained to do, nightmares and bloodshed seemed to be the only promising things to look forward to.

Not like Chronos needed to know that.

“Chronos, we’d be free. Remember what that was like? To be able to wake up when you want to or eat as often as you like? To be able to be your own master?” If it was a musical, he probably would’ve broken out in song about all the pleasantries of being free to do as you wish. And lucky Chronos was the one being serenaded. “Do this with me and you can have all of that back again.”

“But that’s disobeying orders.” Good for him. He was holding his ground.

“No, it’s not. We’re getting the information and bringing it back to the commander.”

“But—” The younger of the two continued to hesitate. There was a part of him that trusted Eclipse to come back with some information and then they could all go to Commander Le Creuset together to get rewarded. He knew that she wouldn’t fail them and if she did get some information, it may lead to the actual position of the mobile suits and later on they could get more solid evidence. They would all return and receive the highest honors for executing the mission so flawlessly.

He actually believed that it might happen.

However, that small ounce of trust that he held for Eclipse was nowhere to be found when it involved Avalanche. Sure, he was one of the top-ranked recruits back at the facility, but this was a totally different environment. All Avalanche had shown Chronos was that he was rash and hot headed, but not the same way that Eclipse was. Eclipse had come to control her emotions a little better than Avalanche did. Knowing that, Chronos just couldn’t trust him. But what if his trust for Eclipse was ill-placed and she bolted after completing her shift, information in hand? What if she just abandoned them there and took all the credit when she saw the commander? They’d never know. At least not until it was too late. If he followed Avalanche his freedom might be guaranteed. When he heard Eclipse’s plan at first, he didn’t like it, but she soon talked him into it. Those fears were returning.

She could fail and they would never have another chance.

“Fine, I’ll help you. What did you have in mind?”

Avalanche smiled; he couldn’t help it. The strings were tied to the puppet and all the master had to do was move them as he pleased. “Here, put this on.” He pulled a pair of orange slacks and an orange jacket with a white collar from the bag he had brought along. 

Chronos blinked, grabbed the clothing and saw Avalanche pull another set out. “How long have you been planning this?” 

“Not long, but I wasn’t sure if you were going to help or not.” He slipped a shoulder holster with a handgun over his left side, adjusting it to fit snugly. “If you didn’t, I had this.”

* * *

Eclipse checked her watch one more time, sighing only slightly. It had been almost three hours since she last found any valuable information and she was getting a little tired if not antsy. The shipping records had shown her the areas that the parts were constructed, but no signs of the suits themselves. The parts seemed to have been put together, even though she still wasn’t sure, so how hard could it be to find 60-foot robots? 

Apparently, really hard.

She had confirmed that there were five of them, the names, and even the pilot data, but nothing more than that. Armaments weren’t listed, at least not where she was looking, so she hadn’t found anything of real substance. There were only a few more areas that she could look, but the longer she spent on the computer and looking through files, the faster her cover faded. Given she wasn’t doing too bad of a job as Kirston McGumery, but if someone came along that really knew her target, she would be in a huge amount of trouble.

Avalanche was right in saying that she didn’t tail Kirston long enough.

“Miss, could you drop this off at Sector 32D? Thank you.” The man didn’t even bother waiting for her to answer. He just dropped the pages off on the desk and walked away as if no other explanation was needed. Well, if Eclipse worked there full time then there probably wouldn’t have been a need for one.

She glanced briefly over the papers, pushed them aside with the other errands, and went back to the computer. Eclipse had already made a trek around the campus and didn’t plan on making another one for about another hour. Whoever was in Sector 32D would just have to wait. 

There was one more area on the computer that she could check for the prototypes and with her luck, not matter how well it was doing lately, the last area that she looked would be what she wanted. Then again, when you find what you’re looking for isn’t it in the last place you look? Funny how ironic that statement was. 

She double-clicked on the folder named “Sector 29B” and waited for the computer to load. She looked over at the errands once more and absently flipped through them. Morgenroete actually had their hands in quite a few pies and even if Kirston was primarily receiving superficial data, Eclipse had been recognizing products and terminology from things ranging from drug trials and requests for research supplies involving nuclear waste.

Looking at the stack of papers the, Eclipse wondered when she would have enough time to hack into the computer and deliver the papers. If she could just have some time to herself instead of having people come in at crucial moments, she wouldn’t have to quit every time someone came close to seeing what she was doing. 

A separate page pulled up onto the screen and a giant, grey box flashing white letters that said, “Clearance password, please.” _Why the hell do computers always feel the need to be so polite?_ The weapon wished she knew.

Another secretary came in then, startling Eclipse as she stopped what she had been doing. They had a brief chat where she introduced herself as Gilly. The introduction made Eclipse think that it was her first day on this side of the complex and, no doubt, she was going to be really surprised when she would meet a very different Kirston. “I’ve been assigned to help Daine today and she asked me to come and check up on you.” Eclipse arched an eyebrow at that comment, knowing full well that Daine was not just a colleague but also a supervisor in some aspect. Gilly must have noticed the look and shrugged apologetically. “I just follow orders.”

Eclipse knew that feeling well.

“I’m a little behind on my errands, but I seem to be up to date on everything else.” Eclipse pointed to the stack of papers next to her. “They should be sorted within the hour though, if you wanted to assure Daine.”

Gilly nodded thoughtfully and reached out, taking half of the stack ad nodding. “Don’t want to go back to my desk just yet,” she confessed and Eclipse gave a knowing smile.

“I appreciate it. If you run into any trouble, just bring it back and I can sort it later.

Nodding, Gilly gave a final wave and walked off, her final phrase of “Keep up the good work,” fading from her lips as she moved out of sight.

Shrugging, Eclipse went back to what she had been trying to do before. There were ways to get around passwords and Eclipse knew most of them, but those methods might alert someone to her position and her intentions. That was just something that couldn’t happen. Leaning back in her chair, she thought for a few moments on what a possible password could be. She wished now more than ever that she could have gotten some passwords from Kirston before she put her down. A couple jumped to mind and she tried them, but both flashed back “Denied.” 

An idea struck and she took out her, well Kirston’s, ID. Flipping it over, she glanced at the number on the bottom. In order to get into a sector, a worker had to get their ID scanned. What if the authorization wasn’t only in the barcode but in the numbers listed as well? If that was the case, then perhaps the password was listed in the sequence. Also, since Kirston was most likely allowed into the databases for each sector, she should have the right set of numbers.

Oh great. It was going to be a guessing game.

Taking a few things into account, like the sector number and letter, Eclipse began punching in some numbers. The computer wouldn’t let her go past six numbers, so that made things a little easier, but only a little.

A half hour passed before Eclipse finally found the right one. It surprised her at first, thinking that her mind was just playing a cruel game, but when a whole new page opened, she almost wished that an employee would walk through the door so she could wrap him or her in a hug. Scrolling through the pages nearly made her faint. 

Everything was there.

Reaching down to her left shoe, she pulled it off and took out the memory stick at the bottom. There weren’t metal detectors around the facility, so that was the reason she had gotten inside with it, but they did require her to dump out her purse. The shoe was the best spot. Finding the correct slot in the computer she stuck it in and waited as the computer loaded it in. Opening one of the files on the stick, she also began downloading a program onto the computer. 

Well a virus was more like it. 

She knew that all the computers were connected to a main system somewhere on the facility, but seeing as she was getting away with so much so far, no one was there in the room making sure things were going alright. That she was sure of. The virus would allow the weapon to access the material from her laptop, but infect any computer that tried to track where that information was going. It took three passwords to open up the information and Eclipse punched those in when the virus asked. 

Once that was all set, she closed the program, removed her equipment and began planning her way out. When in doubt, fake sickness. 

Her phone began vibrating before she could even attempt to make herself vomit. Did she bring too much attention to herself? Was she about to be caught?

Did she fail?

Snatching the thing from her waist, she flipped it open and read the message. Read it twice actually. _“We found them. Not assembled. They’re in Sector 29B. There’s a warship here too. We’ll get information on that.”_

 _What the hell is Avalanche doing inside? Wait, we? Does that mean Chronos is with him? My God, they’re going to get caught! Idiots!_ As if on cue, loud sirens started ringing throughout the complex, echoing off each other like one air raid warning. Eclipse froze. _Damn them! Damn them both to Hell!_ She thought of a few worse phrases, but decided not to say them. What good would they do? She had to get out and fast otherwise she was as good as caught.

Some of the other workers were walking past her desk, heading to the outside. They were talking quickly to each other, shouting questions, but none of them receiving any answers. One even asked Eclipse but she just shrugged and shook her head.

Armed guards were running towards the glass door, both prepared to control traffic as well as keep anyone suspicious from leaving. If they blocked her now, they’d definitely get that blood sample.

No way.

She grabbed her purse, wrote a sloppy, but quick note to Diane and Gilly about feeling sick, shut off the computer (almost violently) and fled towards the rear of the building before anyone could stop her. _Damnit! Fools! The both of them fools!_ Shouting at them in her head was the only way to keep her sane. She prayed that they weren’t caught and only spotted, but if they were seen it would only be a matter of minutes before they were trapped. She knew the guards of the place were at least good enough to do that. _Hangar. I have to get to the hangar. It has the most open space and has the largest amount of people._ All the hallways led to the main hangar of the building and knowing that each sector had its own hangar, the weapon was quite confident she would find it eventually. 

She ran on, glad that she picked some flats instead of something with heels. At one point she had to stop and take out the memory stick so that it wouldn’t fall out, but also because it was just so damned uncomfortable.

Some groups of people were heading in the opposite direction down the hall, muttering things like Sector 29B and mechanics, but nothing more. Eclipse didn’t need to hear any of it.

She already knew.

She slowed to a fast walk, not wanting to draw any attention to herself, but almost broke out into a sprint again when she saw the open door to the hangar. The guards were already inside and ushering the people to one area, but some seemed to be giving them a hard time. More were flooding in through the surrounding doors to add to the chaos and Eclipse almost heaved a sigh of relief. 

She was a good as gone.

“Kirston!”

Or not. Damnit.

Eclipse turned towards the voice and saw none other than Kirston’s beloved Kharl waving at her. _Why the hell didn’t she say anything about working with him?_ If he came any closer, he was bound to see the difference and if he kept pointing her out like that, the guards would notice if she tried to sneak out. 

When her luck fell it plummeted.

She tried not to make eye contact the first time he shouted her name, pretending not to hear him. Although, he was practically screaming at the top of his lungs. 

Well, for right now Kirston was going to be deaf. 

A door. She had to find a door to the outside. That was her only option. The guards were finally getting everyone settled down and beginning to scan the hangar for some more stragglers. Kharl called her name again and she just ignored him, but he was getting close enough that she couldn’t keep up the ruse for much longer. A sliding door on the opposite side had opened briefly to let in a few guards and it led right where she needed to be. 

Outside.

“Kirston!” She couldn’t allow him to get any closer.

Faking sudden interest in her purse, Eclipse began fishing through it. “Shit, my ID!” She bolted back through the door and out of sight.

Kharl stopped. He looked as if he didn’t know what to do. Seeing as the bluehead never really responded he wasn’t sure whether or not it was his ex. One of his worker buddies called him back over before he could debate things any further and with one final look he turned away.

Gorgeous and dumb. Seductive but a very deadly combination.

Some military four-wheelers and crates covered her flight and she was outside in a matter of minutes. The guards had no idea, which was even better, but she still had to get out of the complex. She remembered reading something about an emergency gate located near the east side of the compound. _That’s probably how they got in,_ she thought and decided to head in that direction. _If they killed the guard than I can only hope that no one thought to look over there yet. It’s my only chance._

No matter how much shit they had gotten her into, Eclipse was still relying on them to get her out alive.

Ironic.

* * *

As she hoped, the guard was dead and the area clear. There wasn’t even a watch tower nearby.

Stupid on their part.

Once out, she ran until she was far enough away to feel relatively safe. Just like with the flats, she was so glad that she grabbed pants instead of the skirt that she was debating with. That would’ve been hell if not embarrassing. 

Making her way back to Kirston’s she considered her next move. She had to give the girl two more pills to keep her out until the next day and prayed that Eclipse’s little note gave Kirston enough leeway to keep her job. Then again Kharl had noticed her, but perhaps he convinced himself that it really wasn’t the target. If that was the case Kirston might have a chance. After drugging the secretary, she had to get back to her apartment and grab everything before contacting Stanley. Hopefully he could put her in contact with Commander Le Creuset and then she’d be free.

Yeah, if it was only that easy.

Walking around the corner to the apartment complex, Eclipse found the key and opened the door once she arrived. Taking the stairs two at a time, she threw open the apartment and rushed to Kirston’s bedroom. The target still seemed to be sleeping soundly, which was a relief, but the weapon knew that she didn’t have much time. Running back to her purse she grabbed the prescription bottle, took out two pills, and went to get a glass of water. Crushing them, she poured the powder into the glass and helped the liquid flow into her mouth and down her throat.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered before getting to her feet and going to the bathroom to change into her original clothing. Tossing Kirston’s things back into her closet, the weapon put some things into her purse and switched them back again. Once the hat covered her hair she was gone. 

* * *

Nothing disturbed her on the walk back. In fact, things were quite peaceful. If the memory of those sirens wasn’t so clear Eclipse might have even thought that it was just another ordinary day. 

_Hah, ordinary. That’s a good one._

Putting the key into the lock, the weapon headed right upstairs to their room and locked the door behind her. Everything seemed relatively unmoved, so at least the police didn’t know too much already. Her laptop, along with the boys’, was lying neatly on the cots and if it wasn’t for the predicament it would’ve looked quite picturesque. 

Rushing over to her things, she found the folder with Stanley’s number on it and pulled out Kirston’s cell phone. Sadly, the girl wasn’t meant to get everything back. She’d have to break it after the call.

She explained the situation using as many “codes” as she and Stanley was able to understand before closing the phone and gathering up her things. Stanley was going to pick her up in about a half hour and take her to the harbor. Both of them hoped that it wasn’t closed due to the break in.

The half hour didn’t pass fast enough, but as soon as the weapon saw a blue vehicle pull up to the apartment she let out a breath. Grabbing her phone and the boys’ laptops she walked into the bathroom and tossed them in the water-filled tub beside their drowning and smashed hard drives. She would have liked to keep them, but she needed as little of baggage as she could handle. Stanley glowered at her once she reached the bottom, probably having heard more about the incident since she had spoken to him. She didn’t say anything further and just threw Avalanche’s and Chronos’s bags at him. He caught them and threw them in the back while she climbed in.

Apparently, things had settled down at Morgenroete and the criminals apprehended, or so the news said. The security representatives were so confident everything was taken care of that they didn’t feel the need to close the harbor. So, pretty much Avalanche and Chronos were caught, probably killed, and Morgenroete thought that the threat to them was over.

How arrogant.

Stanley promised to get rid of Avalanche and Chronos’s things as Eclipse boarded the personal shuttle. It was an old, small thing, but as long as it got her to the _Vesalius_ the weapon wasn’t about to complain. Having only two boosters and fitting three people snuggly it looked more like an escape pod than a shuttle. Eclipse had put on a bulky, but purposeful orange space suit over her clothes. She knew that it was protocol, but just the thought of sitting for so long in the thing made her scowl.

Stanley finally received a message back from the ship as she was boarding and relayed it to the weapon. She was to meet them in an isolated area outside of Heliopolis’s scanning range. Eclipse just had to get to the rendezvous point without incident.

Eclipse listened to a few more instructions before saluting and closing the hatch. A civilian shuttle was about to leave and the weapon was to follow in its shadow, so to speak. If she tried to leave on her own, the sensors would be tripped and she’d be back to square one. Not to mention that Commander Le Creuset wouldn’t get his information. 

Starting her engines along with the shuttle’s, the weapon made one last check of the monitors. Once satisfied she followed the civilians out. Eclipse could almost see their smiling and excited expressions.

She wished she felt like that.

* * *

“Now, tell me recruit, why the rush?”

Eclipse arrived safely on the _Vesalius_ , if safely describes nearly passing out from heat exhaustion. Stupid air conditioner. Stupid spacesuit. _Vesalius_ was a large craft, but still one of the smaller classes in the ZAFT military. Then again, because of its size, it is very quick and agile. The _Vesalius_ was a _Nazca_ -class battleship and the newest coming off the ZAFT assembly lines. Oh, it was powerful, at least more powerful than its predecessor the _Laurasia_ -class. There was one of those waiting with the Vesalius and the weapon couldn’t help but wonder why they hadn’t been spotted yet.

Eclipse had asked to see the commander as soon as possible and had been granted her wish once she was cleaned and changed. She now wore a baggy, green mechanic’s suit and black boots. The commander was leaning forward on his desk, his black and white-gloved hands folded neatly out in front. He looked intent on what Eclipse would say next. Considering what she was sent out to do and what had happened, Eclipse probably would’ve been just as anxious for the answer. “I have the information that you wanted, Commander. As for the rush, blame my partners.” Eclipse lifted her laptop and placed it on the desk. It was already on, but she felt that she should wait until she was in the room to actually get the information. 

Precautionary measures.

“Tell me what happened and then we can look at what you have.” His voice was calm and had an airiness that surprised the weapon. Somehow, she was expecting him to be a little sterner with her. Shrugging the confusion off, she went on to explain what had happened, even going as far as mentioning the reason behind the hair change. Even the commander, despite the circumstances, seemed to chuckle at that. “Alright. It was good of you to get out of there as fast as you could then. Well done, trainee. Show me the information and then you can go get some rest.”

The weapon nodded and started typing a few things on her keyboard. The laptop asked her for the three passwords and she typed them in ending with the last one “Rymyr.” As far as she knew, the only ones who knew her last name were her and a few others on Januarias 4. Sounded like a safe password to her. The pages flashed up immediately and Eclipse turned the screen so that he could look at it. “Is that all, sir?”

“Yes, thank you, Lunar Eclipse. You may retire for the evening. There should be a free room two doors down to your left in the second hallway. No code is need because no one’s in there at the moment. You are dismissed.”

She saluted, turned, and then walked out of the cabin. Le Creuset waited until she was gone before going through the information. It was thorough, that was for sure, and more than enough to get the Council’s attention. “With honors,” he muttered, glancing at the individual pictures of the mobile prototypes and smirking to himself. _Graduated with honors_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to anyone who stopped in to read the chapter. I'm sure you can guess what will happen in the next chapter, at least in the grand scale of SEED things. Thanks for sticking with me to get to this point and because you have all been so good to take the time to read this beginning bit, I'll try to get the next one out to you as quickly as possible.
> 
> As for this chapter, I know... There are so many holes in this infiltration plan that I probably should have fixed. I started to, actually, but ended up having to stop because it would have turned into a giant rewrite (and then some) and that's not entirely the point of reposting this story here. So, this part is going to be rather hole-y...
> 
> Thanks again for sticking with me and I hope to see you all again soon,
> 
> Strata


	11. New Ship, New Orders, Old Comrades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse gets new orders aboard the Vesalius as the mission to steal the prototypes begins.

** New Ship, New Orders, Old Comrades **

“Try not to be so frustrated, Ades.” Creuset lightly pushed off the main screen to stand at the mission briefing table. He had joined Captain Ades and the others on the bridge earlier that afternoon. There were two other soldiers sitting near the front of the bridge, keeping an eye on the radars and prepared to alert the ship if anything came within the vicinity. One other soldier had been tasked with keeping an eye on the investigation into the two captured at Morgenroete, but the press was surprisingly quiet on the matter. Most likely, the government was trying to keep the matter under wraps, but it was starting to make people nervous. If Moregenroete had managed to get anything out of Avalanche and Chronos, they were sitting ducks and, possibly, escalating a conflict that they had no right to stick their noses in. At least they had proof the machines were being built and while they were not put together in the current information Eclipse had procured, there were additional reports that they had been taken apart for repair reasons, not because they weren’t finished.

Le Creuset had sent the information to the Chairman of Defense, Patrick Zala, after reading through the information, but still hadn’t heard anything back. It had been over a day and they were running out of time.

Now or never.

“Well, I don’t imagine it’d be too late to hear back from the Council at least.” The captain was an older gentleman with dark brown hair and sideburns reaching down to the top of his cheekbones. He had a long face that seemed to be cut short by the black and purple captain’s hat he always wore. Strict to the rule book this one was. He swiveled his chair around to face the commander, a slight frown on his face. He didn’t like doing things without the Council’s approval, but he wasn’t about to go against Le Creuset’s instincts either. 

Pick your poison.

“It will be too late. I have a sixth sense about these things.” A photo lay resting on the table and Le Creuset glanced at it as he picked it up. The head of a mobile suit with its armor greyed stared back at him. The commander’s gaze was long and hard, analyzing the photo as if it could tell him more than the information he already had. He was just so curious about the machines and anxious to get them out of their enemy’s hands an into theirs. They were both dangerous and special.

A combination he admired.

Looking back over at the captain, Le Creuset tossed the picture past the older man before continuing. “If we don’t seize the moment now, later we’ll pay with our lives for our reluctance to take action.” He paused, watching the screen at the front of the ship and the two pods as they propelled themselves toward Heliopolis. He knew about the total of ten soldiers, five of them redcoats, on the crafts and withheld a smirk. No, they had to act and they would manage the repercussions as soon as the suits were in their hands. “The Earth Forces new mobile weapons. We must secure them before they attempt to move them.”

“That’s all thanks to those weapons isn’t it? They’re the reason those Naturals are being so jumpy.”

“I agree with you in saying that they chose their path poorly, and no doubt they had paid for those decisions. We are forced to work with the hand we were dealt and if there’s one thing that we’re sure of, they’re cautious. Most likely they had made the final adjustments on the suits over the past day and are about to transport them to a different facility entirely. We can’t afford to lose sight of them now or even let them go to Earth.”

“So, we capture them.”

“Heliopolis broke their neutrality as soon as they agreed to build those things.” They both paused, digesting the situation. Elite military personnel were going to infiltrate the colony and take hostile actions in order to steal some weaponry. Innocent bystanders were bound to get hurt and even killed all because Orb decided to do something rash. 

Foolish.

“Speaking of those soldiers of yours. Do you think they’re dead?”

“I’m sure that Lunar Eclipse is the only survivor,” Creuset responded, taking one of the seats near the table. He rested his hand on the armrest and looked back at the screen to continue watching the descent.

“What about the others on Januarias 4?” Ades continued.

“The rebellion? Ah yes, did you receive any new information on that matter?”

“I did, but the news isn’t pretty.” He paused for a moment and looked at the other officers on the bridge. He excused them and waited for the bridge to be empty before continuing. “Three officers helped them escape and out of all the superiors there, those were the only ones to come out alive. Even the civilians working at the facility were slaughtered.”

“How many recruits survived?”

“Out of the seventeen that were registered, twelve attempted the escape. Two were transported to Earth prior to the uprising and have since then been drafted permanently into the ZAFT military. The other three were here at Heliopolis with us. Out of the remaining twelve, eleven got out safely.”

“So that’s a grand total of fourteen survivors then,” Le Creuset said slowly, doing the math and tapping his mask thoughtfully. “I warned Captain Vindur about this, but he didn’t take my words to heart, I see. A pity really. A lot of ZAFT’s time and money went into that project.”

“What should we do with the girl then?” Ades pulled up Eclipse’s profile in the pad he was holding, taking another moment to look at her file. There was no indication the soldier would break orders and loyalties, but the stunt at the facility was giving him doubts. Where did her loyalties _actually_ lie? “Do you think she plans on meeting up with them?”

“I’m positive that she doesn’t know of the mutiny. If she did, she probably would’ve fled to them instead of us.” The commander hesitated, brushing aside some blonde hair. To assume that much was still a risky move and he didn’t want to make more than one risky move that afternoon. “We should probably keep her aboard for the time being.”

“Under close surveillance?”

“Of course, Captain.”

“Our options for her are limited for the time being and I really don’t want to keep her idle. We don’t have any extra room for another mobile suit especially with the five new ones coming and until we know more about the situation, I refuse to put her in charge of one.”

“Yes, I agree. We’ll have her work as a mechanic for now. She seems to know quite a bit in that field and we can never have enough of those experts aboard, especially now with the prototypes. She may be of some use.”

Ades nodded slowly, going back through her profile. “I’ll inform Carter then.” They slipped into a familiar silence, both wrestling with the news from Januarias 4, the mission they had launched before Council’s approval, and the fact that they now had a potential renegade soldier aboard their ship. “What do you think those rebels’ll do?” Ades asked, breaking the silence.

“That I’m not sure of,” Le Creuset admitted with a shrug. “There’s a small chance they might flee back to their families, but that seems very given the training they went though. Revenge seems a viable option, but who they choose to take that revenge out on is also a mystery.” Le Creuset paused again and stared back at the screen. The pods were just beginning their descent towards Heliopolis. Soon things were going to get even more interesting and despite the threat those trainees might pose, they all had to focus on getting those prototypes. “I guess we’ll just have to wait for them to make a move. Until then, let’s try to keep Lunar Eclipse off their radar and out of range.”

“She seems like she’d make one powerful enemy.”

“Ah, but a more powerful ally.”

* * *

Eclipse stood in front of her mirror for the fifth time that day and it was only a quarter past one. Considering how big of a tomboy this particular female was, that was quite embarrassing. Pulling on a few strands of her hair, she inspected them again. The red color was showing through in random splotches, but she could still be called a bluehead in every respect. The dye took to separate areas differently, so the washing had done nothing more than make her head look like a tie-dyed T-shirt. 

_Woohoo,_ she thought with a sigh, knowing that three shades of blue and only two shades of red didn’t look that great together. The weapon debated washing her hair again, but since it was getting so dried out and felt straw-like, baldness was scaring her more than the fact of having blue hair for the rest of her life.

As soon as Eclipse had left the commander’s cabin the previous day, she had taken a shower and had attempted to wash out the dye entirely.

Poor thing had no idea.

It was well-known that Eclipse had been denying her femininity since day one at ZAFT training, so the idea that she never read fashion magazines wasn’t too insane. How then could a girl like that know there were different kinds of hair dye? Her efforts to get the blue out had taken nearly forty-five minutes. After that amount of time, her locks had ceased transforming any further leaving her with what she had now.

Well, it was very retro to say the least.

Le Creuset had been the first to see the finished product the day before when she went back to discuss the warship that Avalanche and Chronos had supposedly found. He was kind. He smiled and made a humorous comment, but nothing more than some final advice as she was leaving.

The day had continued with an order to join the others on the bridge for a briefing. The captain had still been waiting for the “go ahead” from the Council, but Commander Le Creuset had wanted everyone to be ready at a moment’s notice. 

She had dreaded going, however, being a soldier doesn’t give you any leeway when it comes to orders. 

Follow them or get punished.

Tough choices.

It had surprised Eclipse at first to know that the team she was assigned to was, ironically, filled with pilots from her very first class at the academy. Of course, she wasn’t in the program for long and she was almost immediately transferred to Januarias 4, so it was both a matter of whether she recognized them and/or they recognized her. Absently pulling at her hair again, she doubted the latter.

She had arrived on the bridge with little fanfare and saluted to an acknowledging Captain Ades before finding a corner to try and stand in. She had steadied herself not far from the door, taking in her teammates.

Thinking back on that time, Eclipse’s lips flipped into a frown. Her fingers slowed as she brushed at her hair.

There was only one redcoated pilot that she didn’t know named Rusty. He seemed to want to blend in as much as Eclipse had, so her clearest memory of him was his red hair. There were a couple other pilots there as well, a taller greencoat with blond hair seeming to be the one with the highest rank. He was called Miguel Aiman and based on the way he had interacted with the crew, he had a good rapport.

Nicol Amalfi, she had recognized right away. He was the youngest member with green hair and a had still retained his boyish charm, from what she could tell. He was the shortest, always had been the shortest, and—perhaps—would always be the shortest. It wasn’t a flaw, however, his orange eyes counteracting his boyish looks. There was some experience there. 

After Nicol she had seen Yzak Joule. His signature silver, shoulder-length hair, and icy blue eyes were the same as she had remembered, but he had grown taller and gained a bit of muscle. He stood to be a little under six foot with broad shoulders and a confident demeanor. The confidence, of course, was another signature trait.

The group had been looking over and discussing some diagrams on the briefing table at the time and were absently making remarks as they admired the schematics in front of them. Dearka Elsman had made a comment then, she remembered. He was Yzak’s sidekick and personal friend, so the fact that they had been put on the same team made sense. Dearka was still blonde, still had stunning violet eyes, still tall, and was still tan. Somehow, he seemed to have changed the least, both in appearance and personality based on his rather eye roll-worthy remarks. He was the tallest of the five redcoats at six feet. 

The last one she had noticed was named Athrun Zala. He had been standing thoughtfully next to Nicol on the opposite end of the table to her. He was probably one of the more technically minded individuals of the group so while the others might have been paying more attention to the aesthetics of the suits, he was bound to be looking at the schematics. He stood to be about her height with dark blue hair cut around mid-neck and emerald green eyes. The last time she had seen him, he was a pipsqueak with young, girlish looks. She remembered him well primarily because his family’s status in the PLANTs and he was famously in an arranged marriage with Lacus Clyne.

Eclipse sighed as she turned on the water once more, dipping her hands under the faucet and splashing the cool liquid on her face. Most of the pilots, she noted, had some family member fairly high up on the food chain. Typically, people with status and money liked to keep their kids away from danger and often had a lot of influence in doing so. The fact that they were all on the same team and on the team assigned to this particular mission was rather interesting.

No one had approached her or attempted to interact with her after the briefing and she realized she was okay with that, using the time given to her to catch up on the news cycle. There hadn’t been any new developments regarding Chronos and Avalanche, but their fate might always eat at her if she didn’t find any sort of hint concerning their ultimate end.

She hadn’t been given any new orders, so her things were thrown rather unceremoniously into the closet in anticipation of whether she would be told to either unpack or be sent elsewhere. Her laptop was on the desk churning through some news sites as she took her time in the bathroom, still eyeing what her handiwork had done to her hair. _It’ll come out eventually,_ she had to remind herself.

There wasn’t much more she could find in the news, so she was debating having a brief wander around the ship and, possibly, checking in to see what her new orders were. It was a new day and maybe someone would have finally decided what to do with her. If anything, knowledge was power, as far as she was concerned, so a working mental map of the _Vesalius_ seemed like a good consolation prize.

Using the sink for leverage, she pushed off towards the door. She miss-judged her leap by a fair margin and had to claw her way across the wall to find the door switch. Eclipse had had very little anti-gravity training and nothing outside of her mobile suit. The weightless feeling was quite an experience and may take some time to get used to, but the soldier was enjoying it.

Who didn’t like to fly?

Pressing the button, she propelled out the doorway and into the hall.

The weapon was never one for direct approaches, especially when it came to her commanding officers, so her decision hadn’t come without any sort of nervousness. She had had her share of jokes and wordplay with her fellow trainees on Januarias 4, but nothing more than orders from her superiors. Perhaps that was because the last time she let her lips flap she had gotten slapped and then shot in the hand for her other antics.

Needless to say, Eclipse had learned her lesson fast.

She paused just outside her door, hearing the door shut behind her and lock. The bridge was at the end of the main hall, but she was under the impression that a soldier should only go there when commanded or has a shift. Since Eclipse fell under neither category, she would have to go to the commander’s quarters and speak to him personally.

Not the greatest idea, but then again, what choice did she have?

Turning right from her room, Eclipse grabbed on to the moving railing next to her hand. Small, thin handles were secured equally across the belt strapped to the contraption so that she had something to hold on to as she was propelled through the hallways. The weapon took one and headed towards the interior of the ship.

“Ah, just the soldier I was looking for.” Le Creuset was gliding towards her from the opposite direction. Eclipse had to admit she was grateful for meeting him in the hallway instead of possibly disturbing him at his own quarters.

The commander let go of the belt and steadied himself onto the floor. It was obvious that he was comfortable in the weightless environment. Too bad Eclipse didn’t feel the same. She let go of her own handle and managed a salute once she finally steadied herself. “Sir?”

“I’m assigning you to the hangar as another mechanic. I know you’re well-educated in that field and I’m hoping you might be able to help once the new prototypes arrive. You have studied the schematics, correct?” She nodded. “Good. I would like you to share some of that knowledge with the other workers.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll go there right away.” She saluted, no questions asked, and continued on down the hallway, taking a right at the first intersection. It looked like she would be staying aboard for a bit longer after all.

Le Creuset watched her disappear before checking his watch. The real fighting was about to begin and he hoped that his soldiers would succeed.

The officer laughed. Why was he worried?

Nothing would go wrong.

* * *

The mobile suit hangar on the _Vesalius_ seemed to take up more of the ship than any other area. The ceiling was about 90 feet tall and had the width and length to fit ten GINNs snugly, but efficiently. Seven of those said machines were standing motionless in varied spots and three of them had a mechanic and pilot at the cockpit. The mechanics wore the same puffy marshmallow suit that Eclipse had the pleasure of wearing the day before, complete with glass face mask. She frowned, knowing that if she was assigned to such a position, then she’d no doubt be wearing the same outfit.

Such a cruel world.

The pilot’s suit was built for movement, she knew, and despite the how thin it looked, it would keep the pilot safer than any mechanic’s suit. It was double-layered in both the arms and the legs, but the torso, and especially the chest and neck area, was triple-layered. The area from the bottom of the rib cage all the way to the chin was the color black and looked to be of a tougher fabric than the rest of the attire. The black material wrapped itself around the top section and onto the shoulders, even draping down around the wrists. The black boots weren’t as high as with the standard green uniform—which had them stretching up to just below the knee—but ended above the ankle.

“I take it you’re the new crew member,” an older gentleman said, floating over towards her. He wasn’t dressed like the other mechanics in the room, which gave Eclipse a little hope in possibly not having to wear the dreaded space suit, but was adorning the same green outfit the weapon was wearing. She hadn’t received a new wardrobe yet. Shaggy, black hair covered the top of his head, but Eclipse could see the beginning strands of grey mixed in. His eyes were a dull brown over a large nose and small mouth. Pale white skin gave the impression that he stayed indoors more than anything. Tinkering with his tools it seemed. “Lunar Eclipse, right?” She saluted and he extended a calloused palm. The weapon hesitated, but eventually took it with her own worn one. “Call me Carter.”

“Just Eclipse is fine, sir.” It was a strange statement to say, mainly because the girl had never asked that of anyone before. Usually the person just assumed the shortened version was preferred. Eclipse honestly didn’t care either way.

“A female, huh? We haven’t seen a woman around these parts in ages. I hope you can put a few of these men in their place.”

The weapon just smiled and released his hand. Being in a training program with 29 other boys had prepared her for such an occasion, but she decided that keeping her head low might be a better idea than trying to show up any seasoned soldiers. 

“Things’ll start heating up here pretty quick, so I advise you to suit up. I’ll tell you where to go from there.”

Eclipse saluted and pushed off towards the locker room, keeping her opinions to herself just like with the commander. She had no authority to complain or question anymore.

* * *

“It’s time,” Le Creuset said, turning to Captain Ades as he did.

The captain nodded and returned to his team on the bridge. “Weigh anchor! _Vesalius_ launch!” The main boosters started as soon as Ades had given the command, and the three waiting GINNs launched.

* * *

Eclipse watched them take off and found herself amused. She never saw the launching system in action and found it quite intriguing. Given, she knew enough about the sequence to take it apart and put it back together again, but seeing it in action put so many things into perspective. 

She was no longer at the facility.

A smile curled up her lips for the first time since arrival. She was out; finally out.

Her triumph didn’t last long, however, her grin slipping the moment two, familiar faces flashed across her mind’s eye.

What about FS and Stray?

* * *

“Notice to approaching ZAFT vessels! The actions you have taken are in direct violation of your treaty with our nation! Stop your advancement at once! ZAFT vessels! Stop your advancement at once!” Neither Le Creuset nor Ades flinched at the command. Apparently, ZAFT was more informed than even some of the communications officers on the colony.

Heliopolis was the one in violation of the treaty, not them.

The electrical interference made the words hard to make out even from their sitting positions, but their sentiments were too late anyway. 

Things were already in motion.

Heliopolis responded quickly which was good in some respects, but the fact that their only defense consisted of five small, box-like mobile armors made the battle look a little one sided.

“We’re moving once we take out the mining area,” Le Creuset said calmly as if not seeing the difference in fighting strength. 

Captain Ades said nothing and watched the screens. Just because he couldn’t say anything against the plan, didn’t mean he couldn’t brood over it. If the Council had given their approval then perhaps he would have been alright sitting there and watching the slaughter, but as things stood, it was going to get very ugly and very fast.

“Yes, sir!” a soldier reported from the front, acknowledging the order. 

Le Creuset sighed inwardly and watched the GINNs as they intercepted the mobile armors. _So it begins._

* * *

There was a small screen near the locker room door that served as the only outside access for the mechanics. There was a direct link from the main screen up in the bridge so each individual in the hangar was able to watch the battle too. Some shouted words of encouragement to the GINNs outside and whenever a machine took a hit they groaned. Some knew what was exactly damaged and could even tell the amount of time that it would take to repair it. 

After a while it got quite annoying. 

Eclipse opened the locker room door and steadied herself against the wall, stepping inside to wait for the suits to come back. The plan was actually that three of the new prototypes were going over to the _Gamow_ , the _Laurasia_ -class warship with the _Vesalius_ , and only two would come to this hangar. While it sounded like a good idea, that had meant that Eclipse would have little to do. Hearing the shouting outside she figured that a GINN had taken another direct hit and felt a small surge of hope. If the others were preoccupied with the repairs than maybe she would get the opportunity to get a good look at the prototypes. 

She could only hope.

 _Hmph, hope. It seems that’s the only thing that I can do nowadays,_ the weapon thought. She didn’t like waiting for people and especially for the people who were doing the things that she was trained to do. After the initial command, she couldn’t help thinking that her assignment to the hangar was quite peculiar. She knew the commander was aware of what she could and couldn’t do so why had he stuck her in here? Her highest marks had come from mobile piloting, not mechanics. _Oh well,_ she thought with a sigh. _I can’t argue it._

“Olor’s damaged! Emergency landing! Fire crew to B Deck!”

Eclipse heard the announcement, knew that she wasn’t one of the fire crew, but went out to look anyway. _How could anyone take damage from those puny mobile armors?_ She looked to her left at the screen and saw a different kind of unit flying around. It looked a lot like the aircrafts found on Earth, but this one was orange with a giant rifle that was attached to the bottom of the craft and stretched the length of the machine. It had four barrels at its back end and from the look of things, they were able to detach and move on their own. _Impressive._

The hatch opened as everyone braced themselves, and one of the GINNs came flying back inside. Eclipse figured it was Olar’s machine. The unit had lost its right arm and it even looked as if some of the cockpit may have been damaged. Giant webbing caught the suit as it arrived, slowing its approach and as soon as it settled, Eclipse went over to help. 

“Eclipse, wait,” Carter ordered, holding out a hand as he glided over. “Athrun and Rusty should be coming back soon with their suits. I’d rather have you helping them than working on this unit. We’ll take care of it.” Eclipse nodded. The two of them used each other to push off in opposite directions and the weapon was back right where she began.

Waiting.

“Emergency pick-up for Miguel Aiman!”

The girl paused. Things just seemed to be happening so fast. _So, this is what real combat is like, huh? Or is it, this is what waiting around during a battle is like? I never did do the waiting part very well._ She was positive that the emergency pick-up just meant that Miguel’s suit was destroyed and another pilot had taken him in. Why they had some fancy lingo for something like that, Eclipse would never know. 

The military always had to be precise.

She turned back to the screen and saw that the only mobile armor left outside fighting was the orange one. The _Vesalius_ and _Gamow_ were sitting ducks unless someone went out there to fend him off.

“Carter, is my mobile suit ready?” Commander Le Creuset had come through the locker room door, basically answering her question for her. But why the commander? Weren’t there other, less needed pilots aboard that could go out? Wasn’t _she_ one of those pilots? Eclipse almost voiced her opinion, but stopped once he glided right past her. Was he going without a spacesuit?

Well, when you’re on top you can do whatever you want, apparently.

“Sir, ready and charged.” Carter was floating next to another GINN, but this one seemed quite a bit flashier than the others. It was colored silver and white with larger armor attachments. Not only do they get to do what they want, but they can get the best machines as well.

“Good. Open the hatch.” After a few more salutes the GINN, known as the CGUE, was on the catapult and ready to launch. 

The repairs continued on Olor’s suit as soon as Le Creuset left and judging by the time, Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol should have all arrived back at the _Gamow_. But what about Athrun and Rusty? Where were they?

About 10 minutes later the hatch opened again and in came a red mobile suit and the last remaining GINN. The red machine was the same type as the green unit in the respect that it was upright and had similar limbs, but the head was completely different. It looked a tad more human-like, but then again it was hard to see any machine as such. _So that’s the prototype._ Even though she had gotten the information, it was different to see it in person. 

The red suit went into its appropriate slot and as soon as the armor had finished its cooling process, the cockpit opened. Two pilots stepped out onto the platform. One was in the same green suit that Eclipse had commented on before, but the other was wearing a red one almost identical to it. Change green to red and black to silver and you have an elite pilot. 

The weapon just hoped that it was more than the uniform that proved his rank.

As it looked, the red pilot had gone back to retrieve his green-coated comrade. _So, that one’s probably Miguel. Then who is the other one? Athrun or Rusty?_ Eclipse shrugged and pushed off the wall to join them on the platform. Only one way to find out.

The two exchanged salutes, a nod, and then Miguel headed towards the locker room to freshen up. His role was done for the time being. Eclipse vaguely watched him descend before returning to the remaining pilot. Green eyes caught hers for only a moment, but it was enough to startle the breath from her. _What was with him?_ His gaze skipped over to the mechanic that was gliding up next to her, pushing what looked like a set of computers. Very bulky and probably very out of date, but if they worked, why change?

“Where’s Rusty?” the man asked. He motioned over to Eclipse to help him steady the computers as Athrun responded.

“Rusty failed. He was killed before he could get to the last suit.”

The boy’s eyes quivered; the weapon would’ve bet her life on it. Death had been so natural at the facility that no one even shed a sweat drop let alone tears. 

Perhaps he was just weak.

“Ah. Well, we have to get the information from your suit anyway. You work on the internal adjustments and we’ll work from the outside. Just let us know when you’re done.”

Athrun nodded and made his way back to the cockpit. One more command and Eclipse was at the second computer, typing away next to her fellow mechanic. Even though the reactions to war and death were different, the solution was still the same.

Don’t dwell on it and move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick thank you to anyone who had a read of this chapter. I made quite a few changes from the original which had Eclipse acting rather out of character in her initial reactions to seeing her teammates. For any of you who might have read that chapter previously, I really apologize. Out of all the chapters, I think that one had been sitting highest on my list to fix, especially the chapter title. Previously, this chapter was called "Hot, Sexy Men in Red" and, as far as I'm concerned, that can never come up again in conversation... 
> 
> Anyway, I toned down on some stuff and explained a few other things, but I didn't touch the mobile suit battle. Not much in this chapter to touch up on for that, to be honest, since Eclipse isn't even in the thick of it, but there are other battles in the future that I'll be taking a hard edit to. 
> 
> As a reminder, most of the speech between certain characters will be taken word-for-word from the English translation of the show. This is a form of an Elsewhere Fic, and has the characteristics of an insert story as well, so it will follow the plot without affecting it as much as I am able. If anything is wrong, just let me know.
> 
> Thanks again and see you next chapter!
> 
> Strata


	12. Infiltration Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when mobile suits and a warship clash in a once neutral satellite? Well, I think we can all have one or two guesses...

** Infiltration Nightmare **

“All unauthorized personnel are restricted from access to areas designated for captured mobile suits. Security clearance is in effect for all maintenance crew until confirmation that mobile suits pose no immediate danger. Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action.”

Eclipse listened vaguely to the crewman over the intercom. Since she was already in the hangar before the safety measures had taken effect, she really didn’t need to pay attention to any of the warnings. 

Lucky her. 

The data extraction from the Aegis was moving relatively quick, but that was mainly because all the people working on it were Coordinators and were very good at their jobs. It was amazing how fast their minds worked as well as their fingers. Sometimes Eclipse even surprised herself.

Her mind on other things, mostly concerning FS and Stray, it took a little time for the redhead to realize that it wasn’t her making the adjustments on the computer. Her hands may have been working, but for some reason the machine was taking orders from someone else. “H-Hey!” the mechanic next to her shouted, apparently noticing what was going on too. Eclipse and he exchanged looks before turning to the pilot in the cockpit. At first Athrun didn’t respond, his mind seeming to be elsewhere like the weapon’s had been earlier. Eclipse would have probably yelled at him for the intrusion if his eyes weren’t still quivering with some kind of memory. What was it that had him so rattled? 

_Whatever it is he better stop thinking about it. Things are getting screwed up because he decided to daydream._ Eclipse paused and shook her head, forcing out a sigh as her partner tried to get his attention again. Thankfully it worked.

Eclipse really didn’t want to have to slap him back to reality. 

“Sorry! I started working on yours too by mistake,” the pilot stuttered, blinking his eyes a few times as if finally waking up. Eclipse almost made a sarcastic comment, but held her tongue. What good would it have done?

Well, it would’ve made her feel better.

“Oh, not to worry. We’ve now completed the external inspection and recharging. What about you?” the mechanic asked, double checking the screen just to make sure. Eclipse did the same.

“Yeah, I’m finished as well.” Athrun let out a sigh and pushed the keyboard off to the side. He muttered something to himself, but it was loud enough for the two below to hear. “How did they even manage to use this OS?” Needless to say, they agreed with him. Even though neither Eclipse nor the other mechanic had direct access to the OS, what small parts they encountered were very undeveloped. There were Coordinators on Heliopolis, Eclipse knew, but why they had chosen to write the system the way they had was a bit of a mystery. To throw off the enemy? Maybe. More likely they were going to make adjustments to it later and never got the chance.

“Commander Le Creuset is returning! Damage sustained from a direct hit! Firefighting and rescue squads to B deck!” the soldier announced over the intercom.

Gasps and whispers sounded throughout the hangar and most of them concerning the commander’s carelessness. Then again, was it carelessness or skill on the enemy’s part?

Sirens alerted Eclipse to the opening hatch, and she braced herself. Le Creuset’s elegant-looking CGUE flew in recklessly, but thank goodness the netting was there to slow his approach. The sounds from the netting seemed to scream throughout the quiet hangar, everyone’s eyes on the commander’s machine and the damage he had sustained. Given the reaction, Eclipse had the feeling his mobile suits didn’t often come back damaged.

“His unit’s lost an arm,” said her mechanic partner, not disguising the shock in his voice. She couldn’t blame him for his surprise, if she was being honest. One look at Heliopolis’s defense force would have made anyone wonder how a top machine could receive such treatment.

 _Wait, the remaining prototype’s still in the colony, isn’t it?_ Eclipse thought, remembering Rusty had failed and died on that satellite. Perhaps that was the reason? _But how—_ Eclipse turned towards Athrun again, trying to make out the look on his face. Was he making the same connections she had been? Based on the quality of the OS, and if it was the remaining prototype who had damaged the commander’s machine, the pilot must have a similar skillset to her new teammates. Was that even possible?

Once the armor had finished cooling, the cockpit opened and Le Creuset glided out. “Athrun!” he shouted, motioning to the young pilot. The redcoat nodded and pushed out of his own machine to join the commander at the locker room door. 

“Eclipse!” 

Her partner glided back towards her and reached out a hand to give her a silver disk. “Take this to the bridge. We need to load it into the main computers in order to send it to the PLANTs. I’d do it myself, but I’m needed here,” he vaguely motioned back to the commander’s machine. “You know what you’re doing right?” Eclipse nodded. “Good. Then off with you, but don’t take too long. We need you here to help with the repairs. From what we can tell, there’s a warship _and_ the last new model roaming around that colony. Getting these GINNs up to par is the most important thing right now.”

Eclipse saluted, pushed off towards the locker room, and heaved a sigh of relief as soon as the helmet and outer layer of clothing was off. At least she’ll be able to stay out of the mechanic suit for a while.

After straightening out some of the wrinkles in her green uniform, she opened the far door and grabbed onto the moving railing. Athrun, the commander, and the other green-coated pilot, Miguel Aiman, were talking near one of the cabin doors.

She glided past them holding a salute. None of them even noticed her which gave the impression that the formalities weren’t needed, but the weapon just shrugged. _Better to be safe than sorry._

A lesson well learned.

“I have the information on the X-303 AEGIS,” Eclipse announced once the door slid shut behind her. Captain Ades acknowledged and motioned to his right at the console. After she saluted, the redhead was over at one of the side computers. A crewmember slid into the chair next to her and helped her out.

“Ah, commander, I’m glad to see that you’re all right. I was a little worried when I saw your mobile suit.” The captain rotated his chair to face Le Creuset who had just joined them on the bridge. His lips dipped into a frown. Then again, perhaps his face always looked like that. Very few people, including the captain, were happy with the situation or the war for that matter.

“Yes, I was quite surprised myself. Apparently, I underestimated the last prototype. Miguel brought back some data from his battle with the unit and since we can’t just leave it to the Earth Forces I think we should look at it and figure out our next course of action.” The captain nodded slowly and motioned for soldier besides Eclipse to take the disk. The crewman glided over to another computer and loaded the disk over there.

Athrun, Miguel, and two other pilots came onto the bridge almost as soon as the commander had given up the data. One of the unknown pilots had darker skin with black hair while the other was pale and had short, brown hair. Watching them briefly, Eclipse couldn’t help but feel a surge of longing. 

She really didn’t want to sit around a wait again. 

The disk loaded quickly and the crewmember transferred the data to the main screen near the commander and the captain. All eyes turned to the screen, even Eclipse’s, but what she saw startled her. 

_Is there a Natural piloting that?_

"You really saved my hide by bringing this back, Miguel. If I didn’t have this as proof, I would’ve been a laughingstock for allowing my unit to get damaged in a battle against a mobile suit of the Earth Forces. No one would’ve believed it was possible.” Le Creuset paused and turned to his pilots, trying to see their reaction to what was shown. Everyone seemed as confused as he was. Well, all but Miguel and Athrun. The commander knew that Miguel wasn’t surprised because he had lived through the attack, but why wasn’t Athrun concerned?

Interesting.

“I believe all of you are aware of the incomplete status of the machines’ original OS. With that in mind, I have no idea why this lone unit maneuvered so well, but I want to make one thing perfectly clear, we cannot afford to turn a blind eye and allow them to have possession of it. If we cannot capture it, we shall destroy it along with that _new_ warship. Don’t underestimate it.”

“Sir!” the four of them saluted.

“Miguel, Olor! Prepare to launch at once. We’ve been authorized to use weapons configuration D. And this time, let’s see you put an end to all this.”

“Yes, sir!” Miguel and the brunette said, using the remaining pilots to push off for the exit. Matthew left soon after them, knowing that he was to go out as well; he just didn’t get the honors of being ordered by the captain. One more salute to his commanding officers and he was gone. 

“Captain Ades,” Athrun began, bringing all attention to him. “Sir, please allow me to sortie as well.”

“You have no mobile suit. Besides you’ve already accomplished an extremely crucial mission by capturing one of those units,” said the commander.

“But, sir, I—”

“Let the others go this time, Zala. Miguel and Olor have more to prove given the humiliation they suffered,” Ades countered, ending the conversation with a stern look. As much as Athrun’s enthusiasm was appreciated in the military, such a young soldier shouldn’t be so eager to go back into battle. 

Boys his age shouldn’t even have been in the war. 

But again, Ades didn’t have a say on that matter.

The redcoat left a moment later while the commander reclaimed his seat to the right of the captain. “How are they going to get inside? The harbor hatch is closed isn’t it?” Eclipse wondered aloud.

“Huh? Oh, there’s a hole in the side of Heliopolis.”

She nearly jumped. The crewmember that was helping her before had returned, but the fact that he heard her mumbling was what had her so unnerved.

“Technically every colony has a support and defense system that covers any hole that should develop,” he continued anyway despite Eclipse’s obvious frown. “Depending on the system, it could take the colony hours to fill the hole, but because Heliopolis was already in a state of alert, it reacted quickly. Right now, the hole’s covered enough that no air, or people for that matter, are going to be sucked out, but the layer’s thin and can easily be shot through.”

“Oh,” was all Eclipse could respond since she didn’t want him to answer in the first place.

Well, at least now she knew.

“I’ll finish the transfer if you want to head back to the hangar. I’m sure you’re needed to help with repairs and equipment loading.” 

The weapon nodded, saluted, and left the bridge. _Let’s not do that again, okay?_

* * *

“Eclipse, thank goodness. You help with the weaponry on Matthew’s suit,” Carter ordered, pointing a hand at one of the GINNs in the corner. Huge missiles and their sheaths were positioned near the left leg of the suit. The ammo themselves stood to the knee on the unit and the carriers hung down to past mid-thigh. They might slow them down, but the damage output is what they were looking for. _Now that’s fire power._

The three pilots were going to use the extra machines stored in the hangar. Blame time and damage on that one. Even though the mechanics were coordinators, no human being could fix a unit that fast. The three pilots had only been on the ship for probably a half hour. 

Eclipse nodded and floated over to help a mechanic with one of the explosives. The missile was too big and far too “flashy” to be used on a peaceful colony. In fact, those huge things were typically used to take out bases on Earth.

Basically, craters looked like younger brothers to the holes that those explosives made.

Helping to attach the missile holsters was a little harder than anticipated, but once everything was ready and set on the right side, Eclipse went over to help out the left. Her training on Januarias 4 was really beginning to pay off, but whether or not that was a good thing was still in debate. Sometimes the weapon liked having the knowledge, but other times she wished she could forget it all.

“Operation commences at 0100. Matthew, proceed to stand-by position.”

 _That intercom’s getting pretty annoying,_ Eclipse complained, doing her best not to get her fingers smashed between the pieces of metal. Not like she would’ve even noticed because the mechanic uniform was so damned poofy. 

Seeing the gear lock into place and hearing the loud sound that it made, caused Eclipse to say a quiet “Phew” and went to the cockpit to finish the internal adjustments. It was a tight fit for her mechanic suit, but she did her best, twisting in a way that would neither damage the interior nor cause her to make any accidental mistakes. After taking off the helmet and gloves, she sat down in the seat and pulled up the OS for the GINN. As much as she complained about being assigned to the hangar, Eclipse had to admit that she enjoyed doing this stuff. 

Given, she would rather be out in a mobile suit any day.

“How’s the inside look?” Matthew asked, gliding up towards her. He was in his green, pilot outfit with his helmet strung under his right arm. He grasped the top of the cockpit door to slow his ascent and leaned in to glance at the screen.

“Batteries reconnected. Boosters output increased. Triggers functioning. Balance stabilizers adjusted. Calibration altered. It’ll work just fine.”

“Good.”

“You can make any personal adjustments if you want. I’ve kept everything fairly standard.”

“Perfect, thanks.”

Eclipse gave a nod and slipped out to put her mask back on. Matthew squeezed in once she was clear and saluted before shutting the hatch. Eclipse returned the salute and pushed herself down to a safer area. A redcoat passed her as she was going down and the curiosity was enough to make her turn to see what was going on. She knew that the pilot had to be Athrun because there was no one else of his rank on the _Vesalius,_ but why he was heading to the Aegis, Eclipse had no idea. _Perhaps the commander changed his mind and let him go out with the others._ He climbed into the red mobile suit and closed the cockpit just as Matthew’s GINN was launching.

“Close the hatch!” yelled one of the mechanics near the launching mechanism, but paused a second later. “Wait,” he began, hearing the Aegis step up behind him. Not a very comforting sound when a person’s only 6 feet tall and the machine’s almost 70 feet. The weight only added to the fear, but his concern at the moment was why another suit was leaving the hangar. Work before health it seemed. “What’s going on?”

“Is that one going out too?” asked someone else, getting out of the way as quickly as possible.

“No one told me,” still another said, doing the same as his comrade.

 _Fool,_ Eclipse thought as she steadied herself with one of the crates on the floor. So, he hadn’t been given any orders after all. _Doing something like that will get him killed if not punished severely by his superiors. If he was at the facility, he would be doing himself a favor by dying._ Turning, she paused and watched him leave. Her scowl disappeared quickly, however, finding that she was impressed by the behavior. _He had enough guts to leave without permission and even took one of the new machines that he tried so hard to retrieve._ Plenty of good men had been lost trying to get that machine, she knew, and while disobeying orders was ballsy enough, taking something so special seemed to add a layer of explosives to the cake. _Is it courage that leads you to do as your heart desires?_ she wondered, bracing herself as the Aegis launched. _Or is it stupidity and immaturity?_ At first, she had thought it was courage, but as she thought about it further, she started to doubt herself _. Perhaps, I just want it to be immaturity and not courage,_ she decided. _It’s easier to tell myself that my naivety almost got me killed than my bravery._ People can always learn from mistakes, she knew.

But there was a limit to bravery. 

* * *

Eclipse couldn’t take it anymore. She really just wanted to go inside the colony and help out, but that was obviously out of the question. The battle had only been going on for 35 minutes at the most and already one GINN was down. The bad thing was, it was Miguel’s suit. Even though the blonde was only recognized as a typical ZAFT pilot and not an elite, he had been quite the fighter. Eclipse didn’t know anything about him personally, but as soon as the announcement sounded over the intercom that his unit had been destroyed, most if not all the mechanics began some kind of reminiscence. The redhead just stayed out of it. The thing she hated most about being around death was how people talked about the victim. It was as if while they were alive, they didn’t matter, but now that they were dead, they were a saint.

Pathetic.

Her mind returned to other things and only snapped to again when Olor’s machine was destroyed. One GINN was left inside the colony. Well, that and Athrun’s suit, but given the announcements, Eclipse figured that the he was doing next to nothing out there. While the mechanics weren’t partial to the scene inside Heliopolis, the announcements seemed to be enough play-by-play to piece some of the battle together. Eclipse didn’t want to place all the blame on the redcoat, but he was an elite in possession of a very powerful mobile suit. How could he not do any damage or, for that matter, take some for his teammates? She also wondered how after all of that ammo and fire power even the EA warship that had joined the fight was still moving. 

_Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous,_ she thought with a scowl, leaving the hangar and leaning back on the locker room couch. She whipped off her helmet and threw it at one of the lockers. It hit solid, to say the least, even denting it slightly, and even Eclipse didn’t care about the repercussions in that moment.

_Either that warship has some thick armor and strong weaponry or our pilots are screwing around. What the hell are they doing in there? I don’t give a damn how good that Natural pilot is! Hell, it probably isn’t even a Natural! It was four against one warship and a mobile suit not to mention they had enough fire power to take out that entire colony!_

Eclipse was about to let out more frustration by slamming a fist into the locker, but the sound outside caused her to forget everything else. She didn’t even know how to describe it. A shuttle launch? Dynamite explosion? Both of them combined and then amplified by 50? Nothing seemed to give it justice and only when she raced back to the monitor did she see what was going on.

Heliopolis was ripping apart.

It reminded her of an angry little kid and a jigsaw puzzle. Square sections were being blown apart and thrown in every direction, remnants of vegetation, roadways, housing units, and even water features slipping out into the vast darkness of space. The video wasn’t high quality enough to make out any small details, but given the intensity and the quick progression of the battle, there was a good chance humans and animals were being aggressively introduced to the wasteland that their home had been protecting them from.

A grim introduction to the pure, unforgiving nature of space.

Eclipse hadn’t been paying attention to the alerts coming from the satellite itself so she wasn’t sure how many people they were able to have evacuated, but seeing as she couldn’t see anything other than the complete desolation of the colony meant that the people were either still stuck in the evacuation shelters or some shuttles were out of view.

“No way,” Eclipse breathed. A few others had more colorful responses, but the reaction was the same; utter shock. Eclipse thought she saw the remnants of an apartment building and her heart skipped a beat or two. The chances of it being either her or Kirston’s building was slim to none, but just remembering that not so long ago she was on that satellite made her stomach drop.

 _I’d hate to be the one not in a lifepod._ Eclipse stopped. She had no idea why she even thought that. Given it was amusing in a dark sort of way, but the fact that she felt little to no remorse should have bothered her. 

How heartless.

It occurred to her then, that Avalanche and Chronos _could_ have survived the ordeal, but even she couldn’t convince herself for long. They were fools and most likely dead. She was sure of it the longer she was churning the past events in her head. In the same way, Heliopolis was destroyed because some people inside were fools and broke neutrality. Not everyone gets a happy ending.

 _Apparently though,_ she began and watched the lone red machine return to the ship, _not all fools die._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks in advance for reading. I was able to get this one up rather quickly because it was shorter that the chapters surrounding it and less action. I added some descriptions, but, overall, didn't do much editing to it. Originally, I thought I might, but I'm slipping into doing more proofreading/copy-editing than just editing. Maybe it's for the best. If I really hate something, I will rewrite, but I didn't hate much in this chapter. 
> 
> I had another go at watching SEED this morning and my mind is just itching to get to the later chapters in this story... Onward and upward, I suppose. I've noticed that Eclipse has a lot of thinking moments in these beginning chapters too, which I've been finding really interesting. I've been trying to filter them out, in fact, because prose could explain those bits just as easily. Strange how writing styles shift over the years...
> 
> Well, enough from me. Thanks again and I hope to see you all again soon!
> 
> Strata


	13. Backstage Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ZAFT's first battle against the Archangel around Artemis seen from a very different POV.

** Backstage Right **

Athrun’s cockpit opened and the pilot flew out even before the mechanic crew could get there. “H-hey does it need—” The redcoat just passed without a word. Eclipse watched him go through the door to her right, examining his face carefully. 

Just like she thought, glossy eyes.

The pilot hadn’t been crying yet, but as far as she could tell, he was on the verge. The weapon just sighed. She figured that he was pretty close to at least one of the pilots that had been killed, but still there was something nagging at the back of her mind. 

There was something else wrong.

More out of curiosity than anything, Eclipse found herself chasing after him. She wanted to stop him and talk about her suspicions, but she also knew that she had no place to just step in like that. She didn’t have the right to do anything. Sometimes Eclipse hated the constant reminder of her rank, but it was so drilled into her mind that there was no other way to look at situations. Ever since the beginning, Vindur had told her, well them all, that they were nothing but tools. Even the thoughts in her head resembled an overstocked computer of military and battle information. Besides, no one cared about them, so why should they return the favor? The state of mind had taken a while to take effect, but ultimately, she had turned into what she was now. 

The crying 14-year-old of the past was dead.

Things had gotten so far that she barely remembered her life back in Orb. Her and her brother had been extremely close, but even he was a distant memory. How had it gotten this far? Eclipse didn’t know anymore, but no matter how much it scared or bothered her, she would never cry over it. 

Some things were beyond even tears. 

Athrun left the locker room without even changing out of his spacesuit. Given the situation, it was probably a wise decision—seeing as he could get called to action at any moment—but he looked in no condition to be doing anything let alone attempting to destroy a battleship. _Should I ask the commander if I could be let out as well?_ Eclipse thought, but was already shaking her head before she even finished. There weren’t any mobile suits left. One of the machines was practically fixed, but it’d never be ready for battle if the alarm sounded anytime soon. 

Stuck watching the television again. Damn reruns.

It was a strange feeling for Eclipse to stand in the doorway leading out to the main hallway and stare at someone who either need a hug, or just needed to be left alone. She had followed Athrun out of the locker room, but still managed to keep an unsuspicious distance away. He finally stopped moving and just stared out one of the side windows. 

Should she go over to him? 

The weapon wasn’t totally sure on her next move, but just standing in the doorway looked quizzical if not dumb. Creepy? Definitely. If she did go over to him the conversation would probably shift over to him being weak for letting his friends die. Not exactly a good first impression. 

“Kira.”

 _Kira?_ Eclipse thought, not recognizing the name. She was positive that no one else aboard had been called that and none of the deceased had anything remotely close. _The plot thickens,_ she joked inwardly, but her humor was short-lived when the pilot hung his head. 

A tear?

Now Eclipse felt stupid. She was probably the only crewmember within eyeshot that could even attempt to comfort the redcoat and that fact alone just made her frown. Not because of the inconvenience that it would cause her, but because if the situations were reversed, this soldier, no matter how kindhearted, would never even consider what she was debating. No, because she was nothing more than an item to him. 

Or should she give him a chance? 

Would it even matter if she did?

Most of the soldiers aboard probably didn’t know what she was trained to do just yet, but as soon as they found out her specialties were of the torturous and brutal kind, she didn’t expect to be making a lot of friends. Not like she would blame them. Nope, sooner or later she’d just become “that girl” and nothing more.

The only ones who really acknowledged her existence were FS and Stray and they were still stuck back at that hell hole. She bit her lower lip at that thought. _I wish you guys were here._ Perhaps the real reason she clung so close to them was because they had done that small thing. 

Proved she was human.

She hadn’t met anyone else who cared about what she thought or felt; well, other than in combat scenarios. Dwelling on that realization now, Eclipse had to suppress a wry laugh. _If in my mind I’m a tool, then I’ll just have to live through other people. Friends like FS and Stray will remind me that I’m alive and have a heart that’s ticking._

* * *

Athrun returned to his room without Eclipse even making an attempt at conversation. A part of her was happy about the fact, but another area was still screaming its objections. Question was, was it her shoulder angel that was screaming or the devil? 

Arriving back at the hangar, the weapon was ordered to help out with the Aegis repairs and recharging. The bridge hadn’t decided on what to do just yet and because of the scattered debris, the ship’s laser and thermal detectors couldn’t pick up the enemy warship creatively called the “Legged Ship” by ZAFT personnel. The nickname had apparently come from the looks of the ship, but because Eclipse had no mental picture to reference, she just took their word for it.

The captain and the commander were talking on the bridge and going through their options, but the only thing that Eclipse could come up with was good, old-fashioned recon.

When in doubt, wait for orders.

The Aegis had practically nothing functionally wrong with it, but flying through the debris on the way back to the ship had put a few nicks in the armor. They weren’t severe enough to bring down performance, but if a few areas were struck again, they could become a problem. One such area was near the cockpit and once the panel was replaced, Eclipse got permission to check the internal functions. The suit knew of its injuries better than the mechanics did so why not play twenty questions? Before opening the OS, the weapon couldn’t resist taking a moment to enjoy sense of freedom that she felt just by sitting down behind the controls. While her superiors could monitor her every move on the ship or at the facility, when she was in a mobile suit she could do as she pleased. She, for a change, was in control of her actions and could even justify them in a way that she could never do with an order on a ship. In a battle, she thrived, and in that moment, she missed every last bit of the chaos that went with it.

She just wished they would let her sortie.

The unit itself was impressive. Supposedly, its armor could withstand the typical GINN sword without even a scratch. That in itself was a feat because that particular weapon could slice through another mobile suit like a knife through melted chocolate. The speed of the suit was just as stunning. It could give even the BuCUE a photo finish, but that was probably only in outer space and seeing that BuCUEs were land-based, the race itself would never happen. While there was a good possibility the prototypes would be ready for Earth’s gravity and terrain soon, at that moment, they would get overrun and likely destroyed despite their upgraded armor.

Unlike the other five, the Aegis had a feature that allowed it to transform into an aircraft and then a giant claw. The real whipped cream topping was that there was an energy cannon known as the “Scylla” located at the center of the claw. Its power was immense, or so Eclipse had read. She had never actually seen it in battle. 

Eclipse took another long breath before pulling out the keyboard and bringing up the OS. Only a few adjustments were needed to the sensory nerves and balancers, but other than that, everything looked okay. Fixing those few things, she turned next to the outer cameras. Flicking some switches caused three separate screens to show. One was right in front of her and the other two on both her left and right side. There was no camera needed for the rear because the sensors were sharper in the back and whenever someone tried to sneak up on the suit, alarms would sound, alerting the pilot to the potential threat. The same was for an attack from above or even from below. Effective, but it still sounded liked laziness to Eclipse. If the pilot was truly worthy of the machine, he or she would be able to cover their backside, above, and below easily enough without the suit’s help. 

Well, beam rifles might be a problem without the alert system. 

The main camera in front came on alright but after about five seconds the screen flashed and then went black. Eclipse sighed and unscrewed the bolts holding the panel above the screen. Pulling it off carefully, she looked at the wiring inside. She fiddled around with a few connections, but when nothing seemed to bring the picture back onto the screen she sighed and moved to the exterior. _Welding things is fine, but as soon as it gets down to the wiring, I get a huge headache._

“Attention all crewmembers! The _Vesalius_ will be launching in 10 minutes hoping to cut off the enemy on their expected course. We are now at level one battle stations. All pilots report to your machines and all other personnel report to your stations. I repeat. _Vesalius_ will be launching in 10 minutes.”

“On their ‘expected’ course?” Eclipse reiterated aloud. Did that mean they weren’t completely sure where the “Legged Ship” was headed? Considering the circumstances, she wasn’t too surprised, but it did make her a bit nervous. With the _Vesalius’s_ sensors still on the fritz, things could get messy.

* * *

Athrun was the only pilot to show up in the hangar dressed and ready. It was actually perfect timing because Eclipse had just fixed the outer camera and finished up some other little adjustments as soon as he glided up to the cockpit. “How’s it doing?” the redcoat asked, steadying himself on the hatch like Matthew had done earlier that day. Even the question was relatively similar. 

“The armor was patched up, sensors reattached, battery recharged, and cameras realigned and working. Things seem to be alright, but you got lucky this time. Compared to the damage that Matthew, Olor, and Miguel sustained I’d say you came out unscathed.” Eclipse watched his face carefully as she spoke, trying to see what emotion passed. Hatred? Sadness? Fear? Actually, none of those did. His eyes did quiver a bit, but they looked hurt other than sad. 

Hurt. Like he knew that he did something wrong, but had no way of fixing it. 

“If you want to make personal adjustments, do them now. It should be good to go.” She was going to press further, but at the last second decided not to. Perhaps, the little angel on her shoulder thought Eclipse should be caring for once. 

Maybe not. 

“Sir, you’re an elite pilot so I guess I’m just a little surprised that the three others on your force were killed and the enemy still has full power. We could blame it on the experience of the pilots, but you and I both know that they had their share of battles.”

“Some things just didn’t go as planned was all,” the redcoat responded, his eyes narrowing slightly. He probably hadn’t been talked to before in that way and the sweet passages of Eclipse’s shoulder devil were too tempting not to share.

“If your suit came back without an arm and a leg then I’d say that things didn’t go as planned, but it came back practically unharmed. Well, Heliopolis’s destruction may have been the crack in the dam, but there was still plenty of battle time.”

“Athrun Zala, prepare to launch,” announced the crewman over the intercom. And just when she was about to get some valuable information.

Pity.

Le Creuset’s face appeared on the communication screen inches to the left of the panel that Eclipse had opened ten minutes earlier. “Athrun, the _Gamow_ —wait, Lunar Eclipse what are you doing there? Where’s Athrun?”

“I’m here, sir,” the redcoat spoke up, the two dancing around each other to switch places. Eclipse climbed out quickly and braced herself on the hatch.

“Good. We’ve located the ‘Legged Ship’ and are now halfway between them and Artemis. About 800 kilometers to be exact.”

“Has Artemis activated its umbrella?” Athrun asked, referring to the Lightwave Barrier defense system around the base. The barrier itself was an energy field that could block both physical and energy weaponry and it was actually very well developed even according to some Coordinators. It had a reputation for withstanding anything, but things always seemed to have that type of reputation until something came along to tarnish that shiny reputation.

“Yes, as we suspected. Apparently, our calculations were correct and that new warship is heading there. The _Gamow_ is positioned behind the craft and will soon be launching the Duel, Buster, and the Blitz. You are to go and give them support.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Remember what I said, Athrun. Who’s it going to be?”

“I will, sir.” The communication ended and the pilot sighed. “It’s not all black and white y’know,” he said, addressing Eclipse still outside.

“And we’re not doing something as innocent as painting a picture.” She just shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong, sir. Coming back alive is no small feat, nor is it overlooked. I _am_ glad for that, but remember that mistakes often equal death.”

“And so does ignorance,” he said before shutting the cockpit.

Eclipse stopped, trying to decide whether that retort was meant for her or someone else. If it was someone else than there was something fishy going on, but if it was directed at her she felt a little stung.

Wasn’t she just trying to help?

* * *

If Eclipse couldn’t stand watching the monitor before, this time it was downright suffocating. _They’re dancing. That damn Athrun is trying to show off some ballroom skills. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous._ She only wished that she could hear the communication between the Aegis and the last prototype named the X-105 STRIKE. Judging by the way that their “fight” was going, there seemed to be more yapping going on than bumps and bruises. She could name at least two missed opportunities for a killing hit and three others where Athrun could have at least maimed the suit. While the pilot of the Strike was good, he wasn’t so good that he should be on equal footing with the ZAFT redcoats. Maybe they just weren’t used to the suits yet?

Damn, she hoped that was the reason.

Yzak in the Duel was doing a pretty good job at picking up Athrun’s slack, but seeing as the Strike pilot was wasting so much energy so fast, the silver-haired redcoat didn’t have to do that much work. He dodged as much as he could, waiting for the suit to literally shoot its battery to death. 

Dearka in the Buster and Nicol in the Blitz were doing their part by attacking the “Legged Ship” head on. The warship stood true to its nickname with two, giant, leg-looking body parts sticking out the front and it looked something like a sphinx in how it was all put together. The white exterior made the soldier wonder if Orb was trying to make it look like a peaceful craft. That color was usually used for such things, but seeing how much battle strength it had, she doubted the warship was made for any kind of humanitarian acts. Eclipse had witnessed armaments such as missile launchers, linear cannons, beam cannons, CIWS, and there was still the possibility that those legs were more than just show. It was a battleship by every extent of the word, not just functioning as a carrier for the new prototypes.

Watching their battle for a while longer, Eclipse once again found herself impressed by some Earth Forces’ weaponry. The ship’s armor was top-notched and the people aboard either had very good aim, or a fair amount of luck. Eclipse was leaning towards luck, but mainly because she didn’t have that high of a regard for Naturals. 

At least not when it came to down to the nitty-gritty of fighting.

“Attention all hands! _Vesalius_ will be firing its main cannon. I repeat. _Vesalius_ will be firing its main cannon.”

“What? Is that ship within range already?” muttered one of the mechanics standing next to Eclipse. They were all wearing space suits as they squeezed in to watch the screen and Eclipse had been standing a bit back and away from the group.

“Alrighty then. If we’re going to get in on the action, I want you five to head over to the engine rooms and then split apart as you see fit. Saider and Andrew, grab one or two from the fire crew as well as some extinguishers to go along with you. You never know what might happen. Lunar Eclipse and I will stay here and monitor the battle. We’ll relay commands to you if anything should happen. The rest of you, keep working on the CGUE. I want that thing up and running if he needs to go out again. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir!” the group shouted and saluted Carter before moving off to their respected areas. The whole exchange was quite impressive actually. Eclipse had never really been “backstage” for sorties and had to admit that she really didn’t think much about the amount of energy and effort that the other soldiers put in. Watching them now and seeing how they always had to be at least one step ahead of everything and looking for the “worst case scenario” she found herself wanting to voice an apology.

They really were underestimated.

The battle raged on relatively unchanged. Once Yzak had stepped in and taken hold of the spotlight, Athrun backed off and basically floated just above the squabble. It looked almost as if he was afraid to join in.

 _That boy has some serious issues._ Eclipse would have commented further if it wasn’t for the sudden surge backwards. Most of the soldiers were waiting for the recoil from the main cannon and the unexpected angle caused a few to stumble into a crate or down on platforms. 

Eclipse was among the ones thrown into a crate of materials. She caught herself fairly cleanly and even managed to grab Carter next to her before he was flung all the way into the far wall. “What the hell—” he began, but barely got those words out of his mouth before an explosion sounded off to their right. “Damnit! There goes an engine!”

One of the men near the CGUE shouted some more colorful language before the ship took another violent turn. The _Vesalius_ nearly turned over after that hit. 

By some stroke of terrible luck, the supports holding one of the damaged machines snapped and sent the unit loose. If there was gravity in the room than about a handful of mechanics would be dead, but there were still two that probably would have rather been in that situation. The pull of the ship was so strong that a panel on the machine’s left arm flew off to nearly cut two men in half. One of the two saw the danger just in time and shoved them both out of the way. 

Well, almost.

One now had a hand wedged between the sheet of metal and the hangar wall while the other just had a huge, deep cut on his right thigh. The leg could be saved, but the hand would have to go.

“Damnit!” Carter cursed. “Joel, take Zev to the infirmary before he loses anymore blood! You two, Koji and Rect! Try to get that hand out! Don’t be sluggish, but don’t just give up too soon either! We want to save it if we can, but you’re all sitting ducks if the ship jerks again! Lunar Eclipse!” he shouted, turning to her next to him. “We need to secure that suit!” She nodded and followed his lead to one of the consoles on the floor that operated the suspension system for the suits.

“I’ll latch onto the unit and guide it back to its dock. Once it’s there, I’ll need you to secure it.”

She nodded and kicked off towards the dock. Carter was using the upper suspension system, which he could use to stabilize the unit from above. With good aim and a little bit of force, the grappling hand on the end of the cable could shoot out and latch onto the GINN, directing it enough for Eclipse to pull it into the dock with the other system near the back of the suit.

She snagged the railing as she passed, pulling herself down in front of the console to control the grappling cable from the rear. She just needed to wait until Carter had turned the unit and it was as good as secured.

Carter had already begun his end of the work, latching onto the right shoulder of the unit and levelling it out for Eclipse to fire the cable from her end. The battle raged on, however, and despite the rocking, they managed finish the job.

“Do you have it?” Carter called up to her once she had locked the system in place and the right shoulder was secured.

“Almost!” she called back, kicking off and going to the other side of the dock to do the same thing with the left shoulder of the unit. “Done!” she announced a moment later, locking that arm in place as well. The system wasn’t perfect and there was still the possibility it would snap again before the end of the battle, but they would have to rely on any luck they might have gathered because the battle felt far from over.

With the GINN in place, sheet of metal still in the wall (along with the abandoned left hand of a certain individual), and the two remaining mechanics, Eclipse followed Carter to the damaged engine room. Knowing that the area was just sealed, she was surprised to see several floating bodies and what should have been the strong smells of drying blood, excretes, and smoke. Thankfully, the recycling air in her suit saved her from that reality. Some bodies still had the spacesuits on, but the missing limbs gave the impression that the suits didn’t protect against much when it came to explosions and flying metal. 

That was something to keep in mind.

The soldiers stationed there were in the process of gathering up the injured as well as information on the situation. Things looked dire. One of the two mechanics that came with Eclipse turned away and wretched into a corner. Luckily, he got his helmet off in time.

“Alright, c’mon, we have a lot of work to do. From what I’ve been told, there’s a large hole from the blast and that’s the reason for the bulkhead. There shouldn’t be any fires inside because of the lack of oxygen, so we’ll just go right for the repairs.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Here, wrap this once around your waist and then hook it on the clip at your hip. The other end will be clipped here—”

The ship jolted again, sending both Eclipse and another mechanic backwards down the hall. The weapon hit first and only groaned when the other unfortunate fell onto her. He spewed a few colorful words before attempting to push off her, but the force of another explosion kept him pressed against her. 

Based on what she experiencing, Eclipse suspected the “Legged Ship” had targeted the _Vesalius_ and fired. That explained the sudden attempt at evasion and the reason for their mechanic sandwich at the end of the hall, but where had the attack hit?

The man on top of her muttered something and finally managed to move away, but what she looked up to even drained the blood from her cheeks. 

The attack hadn’t made direct contact with the ship, but with the engine on the starboard side damaged, there wasn’t enough thrust to pull the whole ship away entirely. Having the least amount of power, the damaged side didn’t get far enough away from the blast to avoid most of the shock and heat waves. One of the blast doors that had been previously been sealed from the first attack lay against the opposite wall. Whatever was left of the engine had exploded and blown the door backwards into some of the recovering mechanics. Carter was among those hit, but while one mechanic sustained an impact to his full body, only Carter’s right side was trapped under the sheet of metal. 

Some would call that lucky.

The rest seemed okay, their suits protecting them from the initial fire from the explosion, but needless to say, the engine needed to be rebuilt. 

Carter and the other mechanic were unconscious by the time that the door was removed, but Eclipse was just surprised that the man that got squished was still alive. _Probably not for long,_ the weapon observed when a comrade attempted to assess the wounds. Using some exceptional reflex capacity, the man had crossed his arms over his chest just as he heard the explosion. That act softened some of the blow, but now his arms were practically shattered along with some ribs. Eclipse heard something about a punctured lung and could practically visualize what happened.

Eclipse had seen plenty of injuries and death in the past year, even issuing some of it herself, but as she helped gather the wounded and watched two of her fellow soldiers die from hemorrhaging, burns, and blood lost, something in her mind clicked.

Suffering and death were what she had been trained to deliver and for the first time she realized that not all were guilty of pulling a trigger. Most were just innocents, and she wasn’t entirely certain why she had only made the connection now. _Maybe not in every sense,_ she thought, perhaps in an attempt to make herself feel better. Fixing death machines for a living didn’t exactly make a person innocent on every level.

Or death had a very ironic sense of justice.

* * *

The two ships rendezvoused about a half hour after the excitement ended. Le Creuset ordered most of the mechanics on the _Gamow_ over to help with the repairs on the _Vesalius_ since it had sustained the most damage. The engines of both sides of the warship had definitely seen better days and even the launcher on the port side had taken a hit. 

Well, things would take a while.

Eclipse had been helping with as much as she could on the launcher, but when the other workers came over, she had been ordered to switch places and was sent to the _Gamow_ to work on the prototypes. Despite her knowledge on the suits, she couldn’t help but think she was being sent away for other reasons. Frowning, she figured leaving without any incident was the best plan of action and saluted, heading to the locker room for a fresh change of clothes and onto the transport.

Eclipse was left in charge of both the Aegis and the Blitz while the one other mechanic that stayed aboard fixed the Duel and Buster. It sounded like a good plan when she looked over her suits, but when she glanced at the Duel and the empty spot where its right arm was supposed to be her insides churned. Things weren’t going to be easy after all. Even if she did finish the repairs on the Aegis and Blitz she would still need to help out on the Duel. Either way, she was happy to be back in her green uniform and out of the mechanic suit for now.

Sighing, she uncrossed her arms and kicked down towards the console at the foot of the Aegis. Since she knew that suit the best by that time, she figured she could get through those tests and repairs before moving to the Blitz. They had time, she knew. The _Vesalius_ wasn’t going to be moving any time soon and based on her current to-do list, she hoped they weren’t going to sortie any time soon either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thanks for popping by for a quick read. This one took me a bit to go through primarily because I wanted to do a little more research and add in some other technical things. Whether I succeeded or not is up for debate, but here we go. I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> I changed the chapter name from what was originally posted on FF. For those of you who might remember the chapter, it was "Athrun Strikes Back." Since there really wasn't much striking or Athrun in this chapter, I changed it. 
> 
> I don't have very many updates other than that, I'm afraid. Been rather busy with life things and trying to fit in Gundam things in between. If anyone has any thoughts or opinions, you know where to find me.
> 
> Thanks again and see you in the next installment.
> 
> Strata


	14. Dancing Chess Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Downtime, team interaction, and new orders. Nothing like a bit of drama to remind you that being aboard a warship in space is bound to cause a bit of tension.

** Dancing Chess Pieces **

Working on the Aegis had always been a fun hobby, well at least for the past few days, but after checking the internal functions for the fifth time and having the machine still flash the same error message back at her was getting a tad annoying. Eclipse had also been assigned to the Blitz, but the repairs had taken only about three hours at the most. The Aegis on the other hand… _Damn suit. It’s almost as stubborn and pigheaded as its pilot._

“What? Hey, that’s cheating!”

Eclipse hesitated a second before rounding the final corner to the cafeteria. It was about three in the afternoon and she hadn’t had a break since she woke up around half past five. 

Man, was she ever hungry.

“Oh give it a rest, Yzak.”

“A pawn can’t move like that!”

The four redcoats were sitting at one of the middle tables, but no one else seemed to be in the room. Given the time, that was to be expected. Athrun and Yzak were sitting across from one another and staring down at a chess board. There was a pile of black pieces off to the side and a much smaller white one next to it.

Athrun was white.

The silver-haired pilot’s king was knocked on to its side, obviously defeated, and its main conqueror?

A pawn.

Athrun just sighed and placed his chin on an upraised hand, knowing that it didn’t matter whether his next statement was positive or negative; his comrade would find some way to throw it back at him, sometimes even literally.

At the moment, that pawn looked very dangerous.

“Face it, you lost, Yzak,” Nicol muttered as he took off his headphones, the piano music that he had been listening to still playing out loudly as he put them down. He had been drumming some sort of melody out on the table when Eclipse had walked in and she couldn’t help but wonder whether it was his own music that he was fingering or someone else’s.

“No, there’s no way that he could win that easily.”

“Relax, he beat you fair and square. Just because you lost your queen in the fourth move doesn’t mean he cheated,” Dearka stated blatantly, using the end of his pencil to scratch the side of his head. He was on his fourth crossword puzzle of the day. Perhaps he would finally finish one. “How _did_ you manage that anyway?”

Eclipse didn’t even wait to hear the answer. She walked over to the counter expecting to see one remaining food tray, but as she drew nearer, the shape on the shelf was nothing more than a neglected plate. Heaving a sigh, she vaguely listened as Yzak began another rant. 

_Now what?_

“So, did you want to play again then?” Athrun asked lightly, picking up the pawn that his comrade ended up throwing at him. Well, at least it didn’t hurt as bad as he thought it was going to.

“Why? So you can just beat me again and then hold it over my head for the rest of the day? I think not.” The emerald-eyed redcoat just shrugged. “Hey, girl.”

Eclipse stiffened. Yzak’s temper was practically legendary on the ship and not something that anyone wanted to be at the tail end of. Athrun usually took that spot by default and after hearing about the exchange in the locker room the previous day, he wasn’t about to be dethroned no matter how much the redcoat tried. Oh well, just stay on his good side and answer.

“Yes, sir?”

“Is my Duel done yet?”

Down to business as usual. “I don’t know, sir.I’m assigned to the Aegis and the Blitz. The Buster and your suit are being repaired by the other mechanic aboard.”

“Well, that’s stupid,” the boy complained, receiving more than a couple of groans for the effort. “Wouldn’t things go faster if you two worked together to fix all our suits?”

 _So, tell me. When the enemy attacks do you want to be the_ only _one going out?_ She wanted to say it. She was so close, but Ameria’s words still echoed in the back of her mind and she flexed her right hand. 

“Oh just leave her alone. Just `cause you lost to Athrun doesn’t mean you have to take it out on her.”

“Shut up, piano boy!”

 _Wow, what a diss. Apparently Threats and Insults 101 wasn’t a course in the academy,_ Eclipse thought and rolled her eyes, turning away before they could see her.

“Relax. It’s not like we’re going anywhere right now anyway, at least not until the _Vesalius_ is fixed,” Dearka said, usually the only one able to calm his companion’s fury.

“Says you!” the redcoat shouted before storming out of the room, even shoving a chair to the side as he went by.

“H-hey Yzak!” His tan-skinned friend ran after him, leaving the three of them in the room by themselves. 

A short silence passed, the only sound from Nicol’s earphones as well as the drumming of his fingers. Eclipse had never met a piano player before and just watching the soldier was fascinating. Did they all do such things?

“So, Nicol, you up for a game?” Athrun asked, putting the last pawn into place on the board. It seemed he still wanted to play. The weapon couldn’t blame him. After yesterday anyone would need a mood lifter.

“Ha ha, good one. I don’t want another notch in the losing column, thank you.”

“Aw, c’mon. You almost won last time.”

“And you don’t need another ego booster.”

The redcoat just sighed, fiddling with the white queen in front of him. “Fine. So, what about you?”

Eclipse paused and turned slowly back to the table, not sure if he was even speaking to her. Seeing him looking over at her curiously, her only conclusion was that he had asked her. “Wait, me?” The soldier nodded. “Sorry, sir, I’ve never played before,” she lied. Her older brother had taught her the game when she was little and, admittedly, never played willingly since that day. He was one of those people that always wanted to show off by defeating less experienced players. 

Much like Athrun.

“What? Ugh, here, I’ll teach you.”

“Huh?” Not only did she stop breathing, but her heart stopped beating as well. That was a first, well at least on the ship. Did he just ask her about something other than the status of his suit? 

Why?

“But sir, I’m only here to get some food, and the Aegis—”

“Well, there isn’t any food right now.” He started turning some of the pieces on the board, lining them up so they all faced each other. “Just take a break and I’ll teach you.”

“Is this just so that you have another player to beat later on?” Nicol asked with a smirk.

The pilot sighed and slumped in his chair, shaking his head only slightly. There was something else on his mind, Eclipse could tell. Perhaps chess was just a really good distraction? 

Eclipse watched him quietly, having an internal struggle of her own. She knew that the Aegis had to be fixed and soon, but there really wasn’t much left to do on it and nothing that would make the machine perform poorly in battle. There were only a few small adjustments and that dumb error message to work on.

There wouldn’t be a battle before then would there?

Better to not risk it. She dreaded the punishment if she left her work unfinished.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but I still have a few things to do on your suit and that comes as a first priority.” The look on the pilot’s face was priceless. It ranged somewhere between pained and saddened and Eclipse found herself very confused. More than what was written on his face, she couldn’t figure out why he was so persistent. Why was this soldier trying so hard to get her to play? 

“Oh, just do it. I really don’t want to watch him cry,” Nicol said off to the side. “And besides, Athrun attempting to teach? This I have to see.”

Eclipse sighed, but ended up sitting across from the redcoat anyway. _That was pretty much an order, right?_

“Alright, this piece is the king.”

She stopped listening after that statement. Eclipse knew what the pieces were, and where they could move, so why bother doing anything more than nodding her head a few times? Instead, she tentatively watched his face. His mood had changed significantly, and that fact alone caused her curiosity about his secrecy to surface once more. However, that said feeling was pushed aside when she gazed even deeper. 

It looked like he was enjoying himself.

 _Fun? Is he anticipating his victory or is he actually amused with teaching me?_ Eclipse nearly laughed.

“And the pawn can only go forward one space. The first time you move it, it can move two spaces but after that only one. And it can only attack at an angle. Like this.” He showed her some kind of example, but Eclipse was still daydreaming.

Was she human to him? 

To them? She glanced at Nicol out of the corner of her eye and saw the young pilot with a hand over his mouth, covering up a smile. Was it because they didn’t know what she was? 

That had to be it. 

No one ever treated her as an equal and that was that.

“Alright, I think I got it, sir. You’re white so you move first, right?” Athrun nodded and the game was on.

Things were moving relatively slow mainly because Eclipse had a little more patience and was able to anticipate better than the Duel pilot. Taking that into account, Athrun was having a harder, or even a more enjoyable, time at this game than the previous one. When two of her pawns and a bishop were taken out, the redhead decided to ask the redcoat a few questions and get some answers this time. “Tell me, sir. Do you enjoy dancing?”

“Huh?” That threw Athrun off balance, but unfortunately for Eclipse he was good enough to keep a cool mind on the game. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, given your last battle, I figured it was a fun pastime for you.”

Athrun stopped mid-movement and Nicol held his breath. The Blitz pilot knew that it was a sore subject for his comrade and bringing it up during a game seemed like some kind of penalty in his book. 

How cruel.

Athrun merely sighed and put his queen down on the board. “What I do on the battlefield is of no concern to you. I don’t know why you keep pestering me about my fighting and frankly I’m sick of it. How about this? Is pissing people off a favorite pastime of yours?”

Eclipse looked down and moved her knight to take out one of his bishops, not responding.

“What, no answer? Eclipse, you seem so distant to everyone and speak so coldly to us pilots. Why?” She found it interesting he had used a shortened form of her name, but otherwise shrugged. She was good at the mental game too.

“I wasn’t trained to care about your personal feelings, sir. All I see are the weak areas in the battles, the damaged sections on your mobile suit, and the next course of action.” She shrugged again. “Frankly, what else is there to worry about?”

“Morals and values, I suppose,” Nicol said, stepping into the conversation as Athrun took out the weapon’s knight with his other bishop. “Without those you can’t make good decisions. Given experience plays a huge role, but if you just go into a battle looking at tactics and advantages then you are nothing more than a mobile suit too.”

Exactly. Vindur couldn’t have said it better himself and after all, wasn’t that what she was?

“Feelings only get in the way,” Eclipse said, knocking away a pawn, “and I have plenty of experience to prove my point.”

“Sounds like excuses if you ask me,” Athrun spat, placing his queen down hard on the board. “Checkmate.”

Eclipse stared blankly at the move and ultimately her defeat. It wasn’t surprising that the redcoat beat her, she really didn’t have that much experience, but her pride was still wounded. Whether it was from the conversation or the game was yet to be decided. 

“Well played,” she said with a shrug and a small smile. “Still undefeated, apparently.” They didn’t say anything in response, either startled by the sudden change of topic, or waiting for her to continue the previous conversation. She had a practiced response on the tip of her tongue, but chickened out at the last second, saying something she actually believed for a change.

“Perhaps we’ll have a chance to see which is the better method and perhaps on a more even playing field.”

“Is that a challenge?” Athrun asked and Eclipse just gave another shrug.

“Merely a statement, sir. I’m in no position to be issuing challenges and I have work to do.” Saluting, she turned on her heels and fled the cafeteria, barely registering Nicol’s call after her.

“I had no idea we had someone like that aboard,” Nicol muttered after she was out of view.

“She’s new, obviously, but I’m not sure she’s here to stay,” Athrun said, apparently a bit upset about the previous conversation.

“Why do you say that?” 

“Just a hunch.” Athrun shuffled the pieces around on table, making no attempt of setting them back up, but Nicol did notice the pained look in his eyes again. As expected, the pilot started resetting the board. “Hey Nicol, play a game? Please?”

It might’ve been the please that spun the Blitz pilot into a loop, but he merely sighed and nodded a yes taking his seat on the other side of the board. “You know what,” he said after everything was set up and his opponent had already made his first move, “she looked vaguely familiar.”

“Familiar? Like from where?”

“I dunno. The bluish hair’s kind of throwing me off, but there’s something about her.”

“A secret crush from long ago?” Athrun joked and moved another pawn on the board.

“Very funny, Athrun. Honestly, you’re always a jerk when you play this game.”

“I meant no offense.”

"Right.” Nicol just moved his knight, ironically taking out his teammate’s queen. He made some victorious shout and little dance before sitting back down and continuing the game. “No, I honestly think she looks familiar.”

Athrun frowned and moved his bishop to take out his opponent’s. He could still win without his queen anyways. “Then just look through the ship’s database and find her profile. I doubt it’d be that hard to access and it would be nice to know if she had a proper name.”

“That I’m not so sure we have that kind of access, but I suppose I could try.” They both sat quietly for the rest of the game and, as suspected, Athrun pulled out the win. How, Nicol honestly had no idea, but apparently this particular redcoat was an expert at chess. Technically, that skill could transfer into battle tactics, but other than that, it wasn’t really useful. 

Oh well, it passed the time.

“I think I’ll go check on that gut feeling of mine and I suggest you make sure Yzak and Dearka aren’t tearing their mechanic in half,” Nicol said, getting to his feet and grabbing his music player. 

“Well, if the alarms haven’t sounded yet and no doctors have run by then I think we’re okay.” Putting away the scattered pieces, the redcoat placed the top back on the box and set it in one of the cupboards near the water tank. “I might just go to the hangar anyway. I’m not really up for a nap and there isn’t anything else to do.”

“Curious about that newbie too, huh?”

Athrun shrugged. “Maybe a little.”

* * *

“To Commander Le Creuset. It’s from the Homeland,” said one of the crewmen on the bridge. He printed off the typed message and handed the slip of paper to Le Creuset’s open palm. He read it quickly and silently before passing it to Ades, offering none of its contents in his expression. 

“Summons to appear before the Supreme Council? You’re kidding! After coming this far and nearly cornering them?” the captain exclaimed.

“I’d say there’s turmoil in the Council. Probably over the events proceeding the collapse of Heliopolis.” The commander paused, a slight smirk on his lips. “Well, can’t be helped. We’ll instruct the _Gamow_ to remain here and continue the pursuit.”

“Ah, right.”

“Have Athrun return. The _Vesalius_ will return to the Homeland as soon as the repairs are complete.”

“I’ll inform Zellman. Oh, and sir, there seems to be another matter here concerning that soldier, Lunar Eclipse.”

“Yes, apparently she is officially a member of our team.”

“It says here that we are to pick up a mobile suit for her.”

“I see. She must be the replacement for Miguel, Matthew, Olor, and Rusty then.”

“One pilot for all of them? Seems a tad unequal if you ask me.”

“Well, she is regarded as an elite soldier, even if her rank doesn’t show it.”

“Is she really that great?” Ades asked.

“The initial plan for the program was to get soldiers out on the battlefield that were even more experienced and better trained than the elites. More experienced in the sense that they had a wider skillset in the various duties of a soldier and not in commanding. They’re not meant to move up in rank, merely be a pawn.”

“What more can she do? We both know that our pilots can also fix their suits as needed, so what’s so special about that?”

“She’s trained in the areas of interrogation, infiltration, assassinations, and executions. Basically, everything that the average soldier isn’t skilled or wouldn’t want to do,” continued the commander.

“That’s a lot of ‘-tions,’ but nothing that we can use here.”

“Ideally, the remaining recruits from Januarias 4 were going to be sent out in groups to various bases and used to do anything and everything. Whether it was something as little as stealing some weaponry or as big as taking over an Earth Forces’ base.”

“All by themselves?”

“Like I said, ideally.” Le Creuset was going to add something about if they died in the battle or on a mission then it didn’t matter, but he didn’t want Ades to question his sanity more than he probably already did. There were some, the captain included, that thought the Council had gone a little overboard with the program and that was the reason for only choosing runaways or orphans. If they died, no one would cry over them. The motive for the isolated facility was also connected. If the recruits made no outside connections, then there would be no commitments in the future. The strictness of the place was ultimately up to the man in charge, Captain Vindur, but everyone knew of the basic outline.

It wasn’t going to be some early teen daycare.

“Sounds ruthless.”

“I’m sure that the Earth Alliance came up with something similar, so don’t call us monsters just yet.”

“Well, we’re already monsters to the Naturals.”

“Hence the war.”

“Precisely.”

“Sir? There’s another message from the Council,” announced the same man at one of the computers. He handed the slip of paper to Le Creuset as soon as it was printed.

“What’s it say?” Ades asked.

"Hm, what is the Council thinking?”

“What?”

“Apparently there have been reports about a suspicious group in the L4 colony cluster.”

“You think it’s those rebels from Januarias 4?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s too ironic for it not to be.”

“I see.” The captain paused and listened to a short message about the repairs on the engine. Things were going along smoothly. That was a relief. “So, what about this `suspicious’ group?”

“The Council wants to send Lunar Eclipse, along with a team of elites of their choosing to do some detective work.”

“Wait, if it is the rebels then we’ll lose the girl to them for sure. We’re supposed to keep her out of contact remember?”

“I know that, and you know that, but apparently the Council is so confident in their little weapon that they think she’ll just come running back to ZAFT like a good puppy.”

“She’s no more reliable than the rest of them.”

“That’s what I think too, but, unfortunately, she’s under their command and not ours. While she’s assigned to the team it’s more of cover-up. Most likely we won’t have any control over her at all.”

“That’s if she comes back.”

“We can only hope that she does. I have a bad feeling that those renegade soldiers will become a thorn in our side later on.”

“And, unfortunately, your feelings are always dead on,” the captain groaned.

* * *

The next morning was scary, at least for those who heard Eclipse and knew that a squeal of joy was a little out of character. As soon as the weapon had awoken at 0500, she took a shower and much to her delight, the blue dye washed itself out entirely. It was either by some stroke of luck, or the stars that Eclipse had been wishing on had made her dreams come true, but whatever the reason, she was a redhead again. 

Feeling more confident that morning, she fled to the hangar to help finish up with some things she had been asked to do on the Duel. The armor had been welded along with the new materials so all that was left was to fix the wiring. Even though Eclipse hated doing it, she was in a good mood.

Surprisingly all the redcoats had beat her to the room and were gathered near the Aegis. She wasn’t sure why they felt the need to be up that early and it wasn’t as if they could do anything. Athrun was in his spacesuit with his helmet cradled under his left arm. The four of them seemed to be talking about something. 

Probably just some redcoat secrets.

Paying them no heed, she pushed herself up towards the right arm of the Duel. She steadied herself on the raised platform, slid down on it and started connecting the wires inside. The weapon worked smoothly, considering what time it was; then again, she was used to the early mornings.

“I’m surprised that you guys didn’t recognize her. Given it was a long while ago and we were only together for a few months,” Nicol said looking at the confused looks etched on his comrade’s faces. The four of them had had a meeting with the captain late last night concerning the _Vesalius’_ return to the PLANTs and Eclipse’s entry onto the team. Zellman shared with them all the information he knew on the redhead and most of it both startled the redcoats as well as filled in a few gaps. The captain hadn’t mentioned anything about her past and connection with them, but Nicol had found all of that out earlier. “That’s Lexi Rymyr. I looked it up myself.”

“Lexi Rymyr? Who’s that?” Dearka asked, clearly not seeing the point to the conversation. The only thing that was on his mind was his soft pillow and sweet dreams. Nicol thought that they would have a little more privacy if they could discuss the matter before Athrun left for the _Vesalius_. The blonde wasn’t too excited about the idea. “Who cares about this Lexi Rymyr?”

“Well, we should. Do you guys remember way back to our first few months of training there was a girl in our group?” Nicol explained.

“Yeah, what about her?” Yzak chimed in, just as grouchy as his friend. Then again, he was always grouchy.

“That girl was Lexi Rymyr,” Nicol finished, still looking for some form of emotion from the others. Perhaps an early start wasn’t that great of an idea after all.

“You mean to tell us that Lunar Eclipse is actually Lexi Rymyr, the runaway?” Athrun asked, finally joining the conversation. As usual, his mind had been elsewhere. Once he had learned of his return to the PLANTs he couldn’t really get to sleep. There were some good points in the departure, but there were still some bad too. Bad being that he wouldn’t be around to keep any of the others from injuring his misguided, Coordinator friend. If anything happened to Kira, the pilot doubted he would ever forgive himself. A main good point was that he would go home for a few days and even see his fiancé, Lacus Clyne, again after not having seen her for so long. Also, he’d get to see his father, but Athrun had been seeing a change in character ever since his mother was killed by the Naturals on Junias 7. While he had never been terribly close with his father, he still felt obliged to speak to him. That is if he’d ever get the chance. Patrick Zala, Chairman of Defense, always seemed too busy to speak with his son.

Nicol nodded in response to Athrun’s statement, not knowing the inner turmoil that was possessing his friend. The Aegis pilot rarely shared his feelings with the rest of his team.

“That’s ridiculous,” Dearka said. “She chickened out after the first three months of training.”

“No, actually some men came from a facility on Januarias 4. They were looking at the recruits to pick ‘experimental candidates’ for a new program that the council was funding,” Nicol explained, remembering what he had read in the report. “They were picking at least one soldier in every academy class or so and switching them over to the new program. Apparently, we were all on the initial list, but our parents outright objected. Seeing as they’re all diplomats, it wasn’t a hard thing to do.”

“So, Lexi was chosen in our place, then,” Dearka said, following along.

“What was the facility exactly? It sounds to me like it as just another training program.” Yzak covered a yawn, having been just as successful suppressing that one as the other four before it

“The report didn’t say anything about it, unfortunately. I think it’s a bit above our clearance,” Nicol explained.

“She seems detached from everyone and everything if you ask me,” Athrun muttered.

“To say the least,” Nicol added.

“Well, she won’t be bothering us that much then,” Yzak said, deciding that was the end of the conversation. Using a crate for leverage, he began pushing off towards the locker room door and then ultimately his bed for some more sleep.

“Wait, you don’t care at all?” Nicol asked, stopping him. “That could’ve been you, Yzak. Lexi took the heat for us. Doesn’t the fact that it was an ‘experimental’ program make you a bit suspicious? Even feel bad that she was our scapegoat?”

“Well, seeing as she wasn’t given a choice, I doubt she did it for our sake,” Dearka said. “Just relax, alright? It’s not like we can do anything anyway.”

“But Dearka—”

“Let it go, Nicol. If you’re so concerned, then take it up with the commander. Other then that Dearka’s right, there isn’t really anything that we can do,” Athrun said, watching as the two friends disappeared into the locker room.

“But you see what I’m saying right? There’s got to be _something_ we can do.”

“We’re all soldiers here, Nicol. The training program was not ours to decide and just because she was picked in our place doesn’t mean we’re in some debt to her. I’m not trying to be cold, just realistic. From what I can see, this state of mind wasn’t necessarily forced on her. A part had to have wanted it that way otherwise she wouldn’t be so heartless. Keep that in mind.”

“Do you honestly believe what you just said? She wants to be like that?”

“I don’t know, Nicol. If she’d let me, I’d ask her about it, but as things stand, she barely even looks at us unless it’s to criticize what we’re doing.”

“You hold that much of a grudge towards her?”

“Nicol, I don’t know!” the boy snapped suddenly. The anger even surprised him. “There are a lot more pressing things on my mind right now, alright? Things that mean more to me than the sanity of our new teammate.”

Eclipse took a second to wipe the sweat from her forehead, even admiring the droplets as they floated away. She twisted awkwardly to see the remaining two pilots below and couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about. They looked so serious and even Yzak and Dearka’s departure had been abrupt and not without some shouting. 

_Whatever,_ she thought. _I have to finish this suit before that shouting turns in my direction._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey-o, new installment. A quick thank you to anyone reading this fic. A bit of info drop at the end here, but expecting the team to care was a bit of a long stretch, I suppose. 
> 
> I've been putting more hours in this editing over the past few days primarily because I've finished another chapter in Book 2 and need a little bit of time to rearrange my thoughts a bit. Wrote myself into a bit of a corner, unfortunately... Anyway, happy to have this as a distraction. 
> 
> Thanks again for stopping by and if you have any comments or issues, just holler.
> 
> See you next chapter!
> 
> Strata


	15. A Bothersome yet Benevolent... Blond?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunar Eclipse has been tasked with looking for a suspicious rebel group taking refuge in the L4 colony cluster. A rather well-known, yet bothersome elite goes with her.

** A Bothersome yet Benevolent… Blond? **

The arrival back on the _Vesalius_ had been sudden if not unexpected. Eclipse had finished up the Duel at about 0600 and Athrun had already left at around 0530. Zellman had called her to the bridge, explained the situation, and sent her packing in the matter of 20 minutes. Next thing she knew she was wearing the elite uniform and as soon as the ship reached the Homeland she would get a mobile suit, personal space suit, and her first mission. 

And all that from a coded message.

Wow.

The repairs were finally finished on the _Vesalius_ and that in itself was quite a feat. Practically no mechanics from Ades’s ship survived much of the attack so all who were left were from the _Laurasia_ -class warship. Not very many, but the work was still done quickly and with such little resources. Unfortunately, one of the storerooms had also been hit in the battle.

The _Gamow,_ along with Nicol, Yzak, and Dearka, was ordered to stay behind and try to get hold of the “Legged Ship” or at least stall them until the briefing was done at the PLANTs. Knowing a little about how the three of them acted around each other, the redhead knew that things weren’t going to go too well. Nicol had a cool head, but since Dearka and Yzak had such a low outlook on him, she doubted they would take his advice. 

Such sad circumstances.

Eclipse knew the reason she was returning to the Homeland, but what she couldn’t figure out was why Athrun was ordered back. A few ideas skipped through her mind, but none of them seemed plausible enough. 

Oh well, she’d find out soon enough.

As soon as most of the mechanics returned to the sister battleship and the injured secured, the _Vesalius_ left Artemis and its target behind. It wasn’t a hard thing to guess that Le Creuset was a bit angry about the summon and even Athrun looked a little shaken. Now being of equal rank—sort of—the weapon felt as if she could ask him some questions respectably this time. 

Perhaps.

This particular redhead had an unhealthy case of stubbornness.

* * *

The grand arrival back at the PLANTs was short and unnoticed. Only a few officers met the commander and Athrun at the harbor to escort them to the other shuttle that would take them to the Council chamber.

A handful of mechanics went aboard the ship to finish up the repairs. There wasn’t much more to do, but restocking was the top priority. The captain left most of the remaining artillery with the _Gamow,_ so fire power was in desperate need as well as food and water.

The injured crewmembers, Carter included, were rolled out on beds and taken straight to the hospital. Having to step aside to let them through, Eclipse glanced down at her mechanic superior as he passed. His injuries weren’t fatal, but he’d most likely loose all use of his right hand and have limited use in the arm. Considering the damage done by the sheet of metal, Carter was still said to have close to full motion in his leg once he recovered. Perhaps he was lucky after all, but the blow to his dominant hand might slow him down for a while.

Hands were a mechanic’s best friend.

Most of the others weren’t so fortunate and just the looks the doctors gave would be enough to make any person lose hope. She took a look at some of the other soldiers nearby who had caught the looks on the doctors’ faces and frowned, knowing their confidence would be a bit shaken. She almost felt bad for them at that moment, but just shook her head. It wasn’t going to be the last injured person they would see, she knew, so they had better either get used to it, or leave.

Because the _Vesalius_ was receiving the proper repairs now that it was docked, there was no room for Eclipse’s new mobile suit (the Aegis was taken out of the ship’s hangar as well). Actually, since the stay was expected to be relatively long, the redhead wasn’t even allowed to pick it up. Quite depressing, really, since she had been looking forward to that moment and now her patience had to hold out for a few more days.

Captain Ades had remained on the ship to supervise and summoned Eclipse to the bridge around noon. The redhead had stayed aboard as well to help out when ordered, but welcomed the needed break. After a quick stop in the locker room to freshen up, she met him at the bridge. “What is it you need, sir?”

“Ah, Lunar Eclipse, I’m glad you came so quickly. Word on your mission just arrived.” He held out a slip of paper that the weapon took and read quickly. “The _Vesalius_ will be around for some time, so I’m sure you’ll come back before we depart.”

“Sounds about right, sir.”

“Good luck, soldier.”

“Thank you, Captain.” She saluted and was about to leave when Ades stopped her.

“Oh, and Eclipse?” She turned. “Be careful out there. We’re on the team now and we like our members in one piece. Don’t do anything foolish.”

“Yes, sir.”

The captain watched her go with a small sigh. He hoped his words sunk deep not only for Eclipse’s sake, but for the military’s as well. Even though he hadn’t seen her perform in actual combat, Le Creuset’s speeches had made him a tad curious. The commander never gave out praise idly, so she had to be worth the time. ZAFT couldn’t afford to lose someone like that.

At least not to a band of rebels.

* * *

 _Don’t do anything foolish, huh?_ Eclipse glanced down at the message in her hand and rounded the next corner to reach one of the nearby shuttle docks. The orders had said she was to meet her fellow teammates near one of the civilian boarding docks, but why she didn’t know. Seemed a tad risky.

She had a backpack of provisions across her shoulders with a gun in a holster at her right thigh and two spare magazines in her backpack. Another knife was in a holster around her left ankle and on her other hip. The note had told her to “come armed” and prepare for multiple days away, so she had planned for such and occasion. She just wished she knew how much firepower to bring. She had also brought an extra set of clothes in case her red uniform was too obvious for any sort of covert assignment.

Civilians littered the waiting areas around the terminals and were even scattered out onto the main docking area as some were boarding their shuttles. Considering the time of year and the rather happy expressions on people’s faces, Eclipse was quite lost as to why there were so many wondering about.

They were in a war, after all.

The briefing was scheduled to begin in five minutes at her departure shuttle, but when she reached the right one, Eclipse had to look down at the slip of paper again in order to make sure. There was no one around. Either she was terribly punctual or everyone else was just late.

Five minutes wasn’t too early by her standards.

The side door swung open as she debated the subject further and out popped the head of a young commander adorning a white uniform. He wasn’t a commander of a ship, she knew, his badge showing he was a leader of a team at best. No more than 24 years old, the weapon guessed. “You, soldier, are you the one from Le Creuset’s team?” She nodded and the man stepped aside to let her through. “I heard that your ship just docked, is that true?”

“We came in at 0900, sir.”

“Oh, well I’m glad you had some time to get a little rest at least.”

 _Rest?_ the redhead thought, remembering the number of things she had already done that morning.

“Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for a few others,” the officer went on. “Since there’s an assigned amount we can’t just leave without them. Well, this _is_ the military so—Ah! There they are!” Three greencoats stopped next to the shuttle, announced their names, saluted, and came inside as Eclipse was sitting down.

The older officer closed the door after about a dozen or more soldiers arrived and cleared his throat to begin. “Good, everyone’s here and accounted for.” Eclipse took a brief surveillance of the room. There seemed to be a few other redcoats aboard, but no one higher than that, which surprised her. Either ZAFT didn’t want to spare any other elites or they weren’t as concerned about these rebels as she had originally thought.

“You’re one of three groups going to the L4 colony cluster to do some scouting,” he continued, pointing to a map behind him. “There have been reports of a suspicious group held up in the area and your job is to find out if the rumors are true. Be armed and ready to defend yourselves, but don’t be reckless; we’re not sure if the group is hostile or peaceful. You’ll be assigned to one of the satellites upon arrival and there’s a lot of ground to cover, but be thorough.” He looked at each in turn. “You’re given about two days to get the area searched and keeping that in mind, I hope you all remembered to grab proper provisions. Each of you will contact by radio and will know each other’s exact position thanks to the special frequency emitted by a beacon fitted to each of your suits. That will also help you keep track of who’s who when you get to the colonies. There are only twenty of you so any more and you have a stowaway. Five other soldiers and their GINNs will be outside the colonies keeping an eye on things. Don’t be afraid to call them in for back-up if the situation requires it. 

“That’s it. Keep your eyes open, safeties off, and remember your training. Watch each other’s back and I’ll see you when you return.” They all saluted and watched quietly as he handed out a smaller bag of devices and left, leaving the soldiers to think about what he had said. Apparently, that particular squad leader wasn’t going to be joining them on their mission, leaving Eclipse to wonder who was the unfortunate leader to command their ragtag group once they arrived.

Sighing, she slumped down in her seat, attempting to get some well-deserved sleep. _Time to prove you know what you’re doing out there._

“Hey, is this seat taken?”

Apparently, that shut eye would have to wait.

The redhead opened an eye, trying to see the speaker. Obviously, the seat was open; half the aircraft was. It wasn’t a large craft, but large enough to spread each one on the team out fairly well, so why did this soldier feel the need to take the one right next to her?

“Good. Then I’ll just sit down here.” At first look, his hair was a golden blonde color, but upon closer inspection, she noticed it was actually orange and fell to about mid-neck. His bangs were combed over almost comically on the right side, but for some reason, it seemed to fit his angular face. Two emerald eyes sparkled at her momentarily as he sat, a humor there that she could neither place nor understand at that particular moment. He was one of the other redcoated elites of the group and she couldn’t help but sigh. 

“You’re new to that uniform aren’t you?” he asked, pulling at the fabric near her shoulder. “There aren’t that many elites like ourselves in the military and I thought I knew all of them until I saw you.” He smiled, flashing some pearly whites before turning awkwardly in his seat and extending a hand. “I’m Heine Westenfluss, elite pilot and really good with the sword, been in the military for two years, German in some respects, have dashingly stylish hair that stays this way without gel, beautiful green eyes that you seemed to admire.” Eclipse blinked, more surprised by his statement than touched emotionally. “Am 18 going on 19,” he continued without missing a beat, “but still have a lot of my boyish charm, have a good humor and a tendency to speak my mind, am very stubborn, and let’s see what else?” 

Eclipse just stared, not even knowing how to react let alone say anything. _Who the hell—_

“Oh!” He snapped his fingers. “And I’m single.”

She made sure her eye roll was obvious after the comment and she noticed his chuckle. Perhaps he was just messing with her?

“And who are you, miss elite soldier?”

She wanted to say merciless killing machine, but after his description it didn’t see to fit as well. Glancing down at his hand she hesitated, but finally grasped it firmly and gave it a shake. “I’m Lunar Eclipse.”

“That’s it? Nothing else? Not even your real name?”

“Nope. The rest is either quite boring, non-existent, or too gruesome for your ‘boyish charm.’”

“You so sure about that?”

“Yup.”

“Oh.” The soldier let go of her hand, but still remained relatively close. “You know, you just sucked all the fun out of my little speech.”

“I’m really sorry, but forgive me if I don’t shed a tear.”

“And you’re heartless! Although,” he began, narrowing his eyes and leaning even closer. She felt her eye twitch in annoyance. “I think it’s all just a ruse. You have five brothers or something that made you so cold?”

“Will you please back off, sir?” Eclipse insisted, pushing him back at arm’s length. Because of his persistent scooching, she was practically plastered against the window. He struggled at first, but soon sat back in his seat with nothing more than a shrug. _Just a harmless flirt,_ she thought to herself. _Yeah maybe harmless physically but I might need to see a therapist after this flight._

“So, do you?” Heine asked.

“Do I what?”

“Have five brothers.”

She nearly laughed, however it probably wouldn’t have been out of humor. He was a bothersome little fellow. 

But strangely likeable.

“No, I don’t have five brothers.”

“But you do have at least one, right?”

Eclipse sighed. “Yes, I have a brother, but he’s quite an electronic geek. I wouldn’t necessarily blame him for my cold demeanor, as you so put it, sir.”

“Then who would you blame?”

The redhead sighed again, but what exhausted her the most about the conversation was not his persistence, but his questions. Why did he care? They were on a mission with an objective. Why play this game? Even when she had interacted with Nicol and Athrun in the cafeteria it had been odd. They were in a war, weren’t they? Why were so many people suddenly so keen on getting to know her personally? _Maybe it’s just a facility thing,_ she thought, turning away to look at the back of the seat in front of her. _Maybe others in the military actually expect something more from their colleagues? Should I lighten up too?_

“Well?” Heine prodded, noticing that Eclipse was getting lost in some daydream.

_Who to blame, indeed… Vindur? The instructors? The place in general? Or maybe it’s my own naiveté._

“I don’t know,” she responded after another pause.

“Man, you are really hard to get information out of, aren’t you?”

“Well, isn’t that a good thing, sir?”

“Yeah, maybe if I was interrogating you, but I’m just asking some harmless questions.”

“The word ‘harmless’ means different things to different people, sir.”

“Man, you’re good at that ‘cold’ bit, and why do you keep calling me sir? Just Heine’s fine.”

“No, sir, really I’d rather just—”

“No, I insist.”

Eclipse sighed, “Yes, sir.”

“Man, you suck at this.”

“Heine Westenfluss!” the aircraft pilot shouted once he opened the door to the control room, causing the redcoat to literally cringe. 

_Man, he’s animated, isn’t he?_

“No mobile suits were allowed on the carrier. We already selected the five that are going to follow us.”

“But sir, I figured if we ran into trouble it would be nice to have one _inside_ the colony too.”

“Yes, but if the renegades got their hands on it what are you going to do?”

“Shoot them before they get the chance?”

The redhead rested her face in her hands shaking it back and forth slowly. _Was this all a ruse?_

The aircraft pilot just groaned. “We’re unloading it and leaving it in the harbor. You’d better hope someone comes and picks it up for you.” With that said he pivoted and headed back through the door that he exited.

“Well, that was rude,” Heine said as soon as he left.

“Rude, but right,” Eclipse muttered, leaning back in her seat again. It was going to be a long trip.

“Yeah, I know, but I was just trying to think ahead. I guess I thought that just in case no one got the message for back-up, we’d still have some kind of fire power that we could use nearby. Stupid idea, I guess.” He smiled faintly and hung his head, almost as if he was sorry or about to cry. 

Was he that wounded? 

“Hey, did you know that I sing?”

Nope.

“Y-you sing?” Eclipse stuttered, trying to comprehend how someone could bounce back that quickly. Even his eyes were sparkling, but definitely not from tears.

“Yeah, you want to hear? I’ve been working on a song and I want you to tell me how it sounds.”

“Not really—"

Yup, a _very_ long flight indeed.

* * *

Eclipse couldn’t remember the last time she was happy to change into a spacesuit. Perhaps it was the relief of putting on a pilot’s suit and not a mechanic one, or the thought of finally being able to prove herself to everyone. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t because of the orange-haired pilot next to her. At first the thought of him singing sounded terrifying, but as soon as he began, she found herself slipping into an almost comatose-like state.

His voice was amazing.

He hadn’t been able to sing for long, unfortunately, the rest of the ship shouting their disapproval almost immediately after he had begun. His voice still resonated in her mind, however. It wasn’t particularly deep and sounded almost in tenor range, but when he hit the low notes, she felt an uncharacteristic shiver. 

The lyrics had been just as beautiful and the redhead could only imagine what the music was supposed to sound like. A soft accompaniment echoed in her head, but whether it was the right one, she didn’t know.

“We still have about twenty minutes,” Heine complained as soon as he had returned from changing, still pouty about his treatment earlier, she gathered. He wore the same green spacesuit as Eclipse, which was startling since they were both elites. Perhaps it was easier to just make them all look alike.

The redhead didn’t reply, and Eclipse had vaguely noticed that didn’t seem to bother him.

“I wonder why they had us change early,” he continued despite her muteness. “I mean, I don’t mind, but having you change in a separate room seemed unfair.” She felt him glance her way briefly and resisted the urge to respond. “Such beauty should be displayed, not hidden.”

Nothing.

“Ugh! Do you ever talk?”

“I don’t want to—"

“Finally, she speaks!”

“—encourage you,” Eclipse continued, ignoring his outburst. “You don’t need any more hot air for that head of yours, sir.”

“Blunt... Tell me, how can you end such a statement with ‘sir?’ Do you honestly talk to your superiors that way?”

“I’d be dead if I did,” she muttered, remembering again her experience at the facility. She flexed her right hand and the thought.

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

She tried to ignore him, but she could see his confused look reflected in the widow. It was a strange feeling, she realized. Strange because she just couldn’t figure out why he was so curious, especially since they had only just met. _Why does he care? Who—no what am I to him?_ Eclipse thought.

They both sighed and Heine laughed at their synchronization. The weapon just shook her head, hiding her own smile.

* * *

“Your beacons should be working automatically, but I want all of you to make sure that your hand-held devices are functioning properly.” They all sat quietly as the pilot talked. Some of them wondered who had been flying the craft and, lucky for all the soldiers on board, Heine had been one of the curious ones. He made a point to say something, but after a stern “Don’t worry about it!” all the muttering ceased. 

Bothersome as always.

Eclipse swung her backpack out in front of her and set it on her lap as she found the contraption that the pilot was talking about. The thing was small (about the size of her cell phone) and circular with some sort of grid on the front. Two dials framed the device; one on the top and another on the right side. The right one moved the screen up and down, while the other moved it left to right. A button on the left side zoomed in on the target (a large, white, blinking dot in the middle of the screen). 

Basic design, low technology, fool-proof, and yet someone still couldn’t figure it out.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Heine groaned, throwing his head back with the effort. “There’s three buttons! Our urinals are more complicated than that!”

 _Thank you, Heine,_ the weapon thought. A few off to her left muttered their own insults, but talked a little softer than the elite. Of course, their superior heard the elite’s remark and glared his way, but nothing more than that. _Lucky bas—_

“We’re dropping two pairs off at the two smaller colonies and three pairs at the two larger ones. As I mentioned before, you’re all given two days to scout out your respective, so don’t be quick, but don’t be too slow either. At 2100 hours two days from now, meet at the same hangar we drop you off. We will then proceed picking up each of you and go through the information that you found. Each group is going to be given a main radio that will contact you both to the outside GINNs as well as to the carrier. Report in your status periodically and any new information that you acquire. Now, your groups are…”

 _Why do_ _I have a feeling I’m going to get stuck with Heine?_ Eclipse thought with a long sigh. Her life so far had been full of awkward circumstances so what would make this time any different? _I’m sure I’d kill him within the first night. Then again, that might be doing him a favor, or at least his superiors._

“Alright!” Heine suddenly cheered, slinging an arm around Eclipse’s shoulder. “I get to sing you to sleep!”

“W-what?” the redhead stuttered. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even hear her name being called. Not like she needed to. And lucky her, she was one of the first teams announced. That meant she would be in one of the smaller colonies and glancing at the other pair of greencoats with them, she assumed be doing most of the work. Heine might do his share, but the other two were just rookies, straight out of the academy; probably had the highest markings in recon.

She sighed.

* * *

Like Eclipse figured, her and Heine (along with the newbies) were the first ones to be dropped off. The pilot said his last words, saluted, and sped the carrier away almost immediately. The port was relatively clear of debris other than an assortment of crates near the main entrance. There seemed to be gravity, which came as a little bit of a surprise, but there was still no guarantee there was oxygen so they all kept their helmets on.

Heine introduced himself to the two others recruits, learning their names and memorizing their voices if they had to talk over the radio in the near future. Both were about Heine’s height, so a little taller than Eclipse. The one on his left, named Rait, had a higher voice than the other and a soft, but evident London accent. The other, Joab, had a very low voice, almost a second bass by singing standards. His wouldn’t be hard to pick out either. 

And then there was Heine. Thanks to his constant blabbering, she had his voice memorized. 

Observing them a while longer, the weapon almost laughed. The rookies looked so scared at first, but after a while they started chuckling nervously at the singer’s jokes. They were poorly executed, to say the least, but perhaps that was because Eclipse had such a low outlook on the comedian.

“Right, let’s leave the port and see what we can find,” Heine announced, leading the way to the large door on the far wall. After he pressed a few buttons, the door opened and they all, surprisingly, found themselves cringing from the light. They hadn’t expected the colony to be so functional the weather systems were still active. It was morning, they assumed, and the light was coming through the large windows at the other end of the shuttle port. The building they had walked into look a lot like the airports found on Earth, rows of chairs stacked side-by-side and separated into separate gates. A moving platform was actually functioning in the middle of the hall and it wasn’t until she noticed what looked like two greencoats with backpacks and rifles in the distance quickly approaching their position did she start to get nervous.

The door shut behind them.

“Are you all from ZAFT?”

Question was, were they?

“Ye—” Rait began, but was silence by Heine with an upraised hand.

“Who are you, soldier?” he asked instead, not wanting to give away anymore than their appearances already have.

“We’re from ZAFT, and judging by your suits, I presume that you are as well. Are you here to relieve us then, sir? We were sent here three days ago with no message of pick-up. Our rations ran out about a day ago, so we’re a little anxious to be rid of this hellhole,” replied the one on the right. He seemed to be the talkative one of the pair. 

“We haven’t heard anything of another team being here. Can I see your IDs?” Heine continued, walking over to the pair and holding out a hand. Eclipse stood a step behind him, her hand on the handgun on her thigh. _Hm, maybe Heine does know what he’s doing._

“Of course,” the right replied, fishing out his first and then turning to the other. “You’ll see that they’re authentic, of course. These things are impossible to copy.”

“Yes, I know the records, but please, humor me.” The redcoat took the cards offered, made a quick check of the identities, and then turned away. “You two, take their weapons and stand guard.”

“Sir!” the greencoats replied, doing as they were told.

He pointed at Eclipse and jerked his head to the side. She hesitated, waiting for the soldiers to be patted down and the others to put a gun on them before following him. “What do you make of it?”

“Them or the IDs?” she asked, glancing at the four. She really didn’t like leaving the rookies with two possible enemies. For all they knew these two were part of the renegade gang.

“Both. Their faces seem to match these, but the only way of knowing is by doing a full DNA testing.”

“We don’t have the time or the resources to do that much.”

“That’s obvious.”

“Are we sure that the IDs are real? The only way I know of testing them is by cutting them in half and glancing at the computer chip inside.”

“You mean look at the manufacture on the chip, right?” Eclipse nodded. “That may sound fine and dandy, but how do you propose we do that?”

The weapon glanced over at the four again. “I don’t know, sir, but I really don’t like this.”

“Me neither, so let’s do something fast.”

“Fine, here. Hold this.”

“Huh?” 

She gave him one of the IDs and aimed her handgun at the corner. “You sure you want to hold it in front of you like that?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Probably, but do you have any other suggestions?”

Heine sighed. “No.”

“Good, then either move it or your face will look a little lopsided without half of it there.”

Holding it out at arm’s length, he shifted his fingers to the furthest corner and closed his eyes. It’s not like Eclipse was going to fire at him, so why was he so scared?

“You’d better have a firm hold on that thing. I really don’t want to go chasing after it if it flies away.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just shoot.”

She was about to make another sarcastic remark, but knowing they were short on time, she held her tongue.

Lucky Heine.

Pressing the barrel against the far corner, she fired. The bullet cut cleanly, which was expected, and the redcoat shared a few colorful words. That was also expected.

“Tell me, sir. How can you be an elite if you’re so afraid of guns?”

“I’m not afraid of them, just don’t like how you’re so quick to resort to them.”

“What would you have done then?”

“It doesn’t matter now. Here,” he shoved the card at her, “finish what you started.”

There was no need. After the echo of her shot faded, two more sounded in its place. Turning, Eclipse saw the prisoners each with a gun and the two newbies on the ground in their own blood. So, her gut feeling had been right after all. Damn, she couldn’t afford to make that mistake again.

“Nice shot,” one congratulated, presumably the one who always speaks.

“Yes, that went clean through to the other side.”

“I guess they don’t make helmets like they used to.”

“Drop ‘em,” Heine hissed, slinging out his own firearm.

“My, my, so their powwow’s finished is it? I’m actually quite surprised how this turned out, Eclipse. From what we remember about you, this seems sloppy,” the main soldier said.

Eclipse pointed her own gun, masking her confusion with the movement. _Remember about me? From where?_

“What do you mean by that?” Heine asked.

“Oh, come now, this is boring,” he continued, ignoring the question. “Why don’t you put your toys away and play ‘Follow the Leader’ with us?”

“I’m not up for games,” the redhead spat, receiving a nod from her partner as well.

“Aw, that’s a shame. And we have somewhere nice and cozy to show you,” complained the quiet one. 

A smirk or two was shared before Heine finally spoke up again. “Sorry to spoil the hospitalities, but since neither of us are going to lower our weapons, I advise that we either come to an agreement or Eclipse and I will get that DNA sampling that we were just talking about.” Eclipse found herself blinking in amazement after the threat. If it wasn’t for the handgun, she probably would’ve given him a pat on the back or something. It wasn’t bad.

“Now, _that_ I believe, but the girl’ll be the only one walking away if that happens. Her trigger’s faster than mine and her aim dead on. I’d probably panic and miss a vital area, so I’d be dead and she’d shoot my partner here before he got a chance for a second shot. You, however, would be dead after his first try.” The talkative soldier shrugged, adding a small chuckle at the end for flavor. “Just a lot of needless violence, if you ask me, but then again, that’s what you were made for, eh Eclipse? Being left alone wouldn’t bother you.”

The redhead’s eye twitched slightly. She could’ve fired and it most likely would’ve gone down like he narrated. Then again, maybe not. If she—

“Don’t,” the quiet one ordered, noticing her inner struggle.

Eclipse hesitated again, sure of her ability, but a part of her still didn’t want to get Heine killed. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever live that one down. Why she suddenly cared for him was beyond her, but maybe it was because she didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. 

She didn’t want to get any more of her comrades murdered. 

After a few more moments, she lowered her gun. “What’s this? The _great_ Lunar Eclipse is surrendering? What a twist of fate,” chided the leader.

“Who are you?”

“All in good time, my dear. C’mon, I’m still up for a game of ‘Follow the Leader.’ Spencer, take the lead, would ya?” The other nodded, walked over to get the redcoats’ weapons, proceeded to unload them, and turned while his partner bound their hands with rope. 

Eclipse followed close behind Spencer and then Heine behind her. At any other time, they might look comical, but at the moment Eclipse was doing her best to stay calm and not do anything rash. A fierce rage was burning deep inside of her and she knew that if it consumed her, neither she nor Heine would be getting out of the colony alive. Everything was going fine until she looked over and saw the pieces of their handguns discarded on the ground.

She really had to learn to act on her impulses.

* * *

The two renegades, Spencer and Rya by name, escorted them to an old hotel about a half hour from their drop-off point. The place wasn’t falling apart like the many other buildings still left standing, but most of the bricks were missing in some areas. It didn’t look stable, but apparently the people inside didn’t feel the need to be afraid. Perhaps they knew something that Heine and Eclipse didn’t.

“Welcome to SIN-ED,” Rya said, sweeping his arms in an exaggerated display of pointing.

“Great. What the hell is that?” Heine muttered to his partner, but Spencer heard.

“All in good time,” he responded, a coy smile across his lips.

“You really need to stop saying that. What, did you watch some lame kidnapping movie before you—” Eclipse stopped abruptly, letting Heine smash into her. He let loose a loud “Umph!” as he hit, and stumbled back a few inches before Rya steadied him again. At least it shut him up.

“That female friend of yours is right, y’know. I’d keep your mouth shut,” the soldier laughed, pushing Heine back ahead of him. Reaching out, he opened the door and bowed politely as he gestured them inside. “Hostages first.”

“You’re too kind,” Eclipse retorted.

The inside of the hotel was a lot better furnished than the outside. Red velvet chairs littered the main common room with small, but sturdy coffee tables between them. Black and green carpet marked a path to the reception desk at the far end of the room, surrounded by wooden flooring on each side. At the very top of the ceiling hung an intricate chandelier, lit by light bulbs. It was the only light in the room, but there was no need for more. The balcony and staircase wound up to the prisoners’ right, stretching to the second floor before continuing its ascent.

It was definitely a ritzy place back when it was still open.

“Wow, isn’t this unexpected? Rya, you’re a tad early.” Eclipse stopped and looked over at the individual sitting on one of the couches. Luckily, Heine anticipated the move that time and stepped aside before he hit. “We thought it would’ve taken longer, given the target. Spencer, please untie them and for goodness sake let them take off those stifling masks; there’s oxygen here.”

Spencer nodded and undid Eclipse first, barely getting the ropes off before she threw the helmet to the side and lunged at the man on the couch. “FS!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter up. Speedily coursing through the beginning chapters as I'm eager to get to meatier bits of the story. This is also one of the main branch offs from the main canon and I just couldn't help myself by introducing Heine so early into my story. For one reason or another, he stuck out to me in Destiny as an interesting character, but we all know how that tragically ended up... I thought he could do with a bit more screen time, so I was more than happy to stick him in. For those of you who might not know, Heine's character design was actually based off the Japanese singer, TM Revolution. Sticking with that motif, I made him a singer in the story. He definitely clashes with Eclipse here at the beginning, but I'd like to think that mellows out over time. Only time will tell...
> 
> This chapter title had always been one of my favorites. Originally, I had made Heine's hair color blond, hence the title, but had since changed it to orange-ish as the story progressed, to be closer to the canon. This new version of the title is an effort to keep it and yet still stay true to his actual hair color.
> 
> Thanks again for stopping by for a read. If anyone has any thoughts, just leave me a message.
> 
> Onwards and upwards.
> 
> Strata


	16. A Guppy Among Piranhas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when you're in a den of renegades and your partner is best friends with the top dogs? Heine is about to find out.

** A Guppy Among Piranhas **

Heine blinked in wonderment as he watched his new redheaded friend lunge and hug the guy labeled “enemy number one” in his book. Needless to say, he had no idea what to make of it. Here he was trying to get her attention by starting intellectual conversations, but all he had to do was tie her up and sit on a couch covered in red velvet.

Kinky.

“FS! I was wondering what happened to you! And here I was getting so worried when I didn’t hear anything. When did you get out? How’d it go? As we planned? Is everyone here? Why didn’t you contact me? Where’s Stray?”

“Woah, hold on!” He had laughed and actually looked joyous at her antics which made Heine tense, but not as much as when he had witnessed Eclipse’s sudden change in attitude. The man, FS, didn’t look threatening, especially not when he wore the casual get up of jeans and a black T-shirt, but the bulge on his right hip betrayed any sense of innocence, knowing there was a gun resting there. And yet Eclipse displayed no nervousness. There was something he was not aware of and he was suddenly feeling very alone.

“All in good time, deary,” FS said in a light voice. He looked genuinely amused by her, his red-orange eyes flaring up in a way that proved there was a deeper connection between the two. Seeing as he was part of the group who had just killed two of their young comrades, caution seemed to be the better course of action, but seeing how quick she was to forget about that incident, he was beginning to think she had been in on this charade the whole time.

“As endearing as this is…” Heine began, bringing all eyes onto him and seeming to break Eclipse out of whatever daydream she had been having. She scrambled from the man’s embrace and took a couple of steps back towards Heine. He looked at her and felt his eyebrow rise questioningly. _Is she blushing?_

“Oh yes, sorry, but I forgot about you.” Heine noted the sharp tone his voice now took and he swallowed.

Yes, he felt so very alone.

“LE, who’s your friend?”

Eclipse completed the distance between the two, now standing next to her fellow elite in what Heine had hoped was a sign of solidarity. “FS, this is Heine Westenfluss.”

FS nodded and even stood, offering a hand for him to shake. “Thank you for accompanying my dear LE.” Heine looked at it briefly before gazing at the man now in front of him. There was something dangerous about him.

“He won’t hurt us,” Eclipse said quickly, Heine not missing the stern look she had given FS for confirmation. The other man’s shrug didn’t help settle the singer’s nerves, but he did take the hand for a quick shake.

What other option did he have?

“There were two others,” Heine continued after breaking the shake. “Two other newbies were killed by your flunkies here.”

“Flunkies?” FS blinked. “Do people actually talk like that?”

“You’re missing the point—”

“No, no, Mr. Westenfluss, I got it all right. Spencer, Rya, do you have anything to say in your defense?”

“You wanted her here unscathed,” Rya spat, seemingly wounded by the accusation. “That was your only requirement. The fact that she still has one teammate was thanks to the circumstances.”

“And the fact that you’re alive is thanks to it too,” Eclipse retorted, finally sounding like something closer to what Heine had been used to. She took a step to her right, putting herself between him and their two previous captors. She might be close with FS, but she clearly didn’t seem to have any connection to those two.

"Ah, but if you killed us, you wouldn’t have met your long, lost—” Spencer waved a hand vaguely in FS’s direction “—lover, I suppose? Is that what we’re calling this?” Spencer teased, receiving a scowl from both redcoats. Even FS frowned and Heine noticed his right hand twitch near the gun.

“I’ll talk to you two later,” he said instead of acting on that impulse, but the words and tone seemed to have some effect on Rya and Spencer, both visibly shuddering and shrinking away after his words. Perhaps his instincts on FS weren’t too far off the mark if his own teammates were afraid of him. “Please, LE, will you and your comrade follow me?”

“More ‘Follow the Leader,’ huh?” Heine grumbled, but Eclipse cut him off before he could say anything more.

“Sir, don’t.” Her words had surprised him at first, but when he caught the tail end of FS’s look, he started to catch on. “Witty or no, I know who we’re up against and the best way for you to stay alive is to keep quiet.” She turned to him as they walked, noting her stern expression. Heine could tell she was serious and, despite the circumstances, was slightly happy by the fact that she had cared enough to warn him. “They might not harm me, but you’re fair game.”

“Fair game?” Heine repeated, following Eclipse and FS down one of the hallways.

“Imagine a guppy in a piranha tank.”

“Huh?”

“You’re the guppy.”

“Oh.”

They continued down the hall for some time, the walls gradually expanding into another lobby and another set of doors to their left. Heine put a hand at the empty spot on his waste, wishing he had a firearm. Until he could put a finger on what type of situation he was in, his soldier instincts were all he had, and they were bouncing all over the place. He had no weapon, no radio, and a fellow elite he was no longer convinced was on his side.

Yes, a guppy indeed.

* * *

“Ah, I was wondering what all the commotion was about.”

They had opened the double doors to a dimly lit ballroom with a wooden floor and a second-story balcony circling the room. The staircases to the balcony spread out on either side of the group, looking grander than the one in the lobby they had seen when they had first arrived. The ballroom had no other obstacles other than the one table covered with what looked like pastries in the middle of the wooden floor and some scattered chairs lining the wall to their right. Next to that oddly positioned table was the speaker and if Eclipse hadn’t felt the tension heighten after she had explained their particular predicament to Heine, she would have laughed. She would have laughed _hard_.

The grey hair and eyes were a comforting sight on any day and even in that moment she welcomed his stare. After meeting FS, Stray’s reappearance into her life had been a fresh of cold air and even more so now that he seemed to be able follow a few passions of his own. Wearing a similar outfit to FS, the main added features were an apron, a large chef’s hat, and a layer of flour. Despite her warning to Heine earlier, she could help but think naming these two piranhas didn’t seem accurate, but just as size wasn’t everything in fish, looks weren’t anything now either.

“Hey, Stray,” Eclipse said with a laugh, running over to the cook and embracing him in a hug. Stray matched her laughter and picked her up slightly from the ground, swinging her around in a circle before setting her down.

“We missed you, LE.”

“And I, you! Tell me…” She her nose wrinkled upwards and she noticed something in the air. “What’s that smell?”

“Huh? Bread of course. I’ve been making it all day, among other things,” he added, pointing to the flour on his apron and the pastries on the table. Eclipse had to roll her eyes at that, realizing only then most of the baking ingredient was now on the front of her suit. She attempted to brush it off, Stray joining in to help only once her tactics failed.

FS cleared his throat loudly from the other side of the room, carrying two chairs in hands as he walked towards the table. “Sorry to cut this reunion short but we have a lot to discuss. Stray, will you be joining us?”

“Of course.”

“Well, then as much as I want our guests to get covered in flour—at least more than one already has—can you please go get cleaned up?” 

Stray blinked. “Why?”

Eclipse saw Heine straighten out of the corner of her eye. Based on what he had probably picked up on in the other room, any sort of insubordination towards FS might usually warrant a display in authority, but Heine just didn’t understand their dynamic. FS response and chuckle put that dynamic on display and Eclipse frowned when she saw Heine’s confusion.

“Fine, just stay as is then.”

FS set down the chairs he had been holding, sitting in one and pointing for Eclipse to take the other. He hadn’t bothered grabbing one for Heine it was not lost on either elite. Heine just shrugged, however, standing near Eclipse as she sat. Stray didn’t seem to mind the idea of standing and started eating a pastry from the table.

“I hope you don’t mind the décor,” FS began, waving his hand at the grandness of the room around him. “Might seem a bit much, I know, but really there’s no other room in better condition. The walls are thick and there’s only one entrance, so we’ll know if someone comes in. And besides, it has a nice atmosphere.”

“Oh, you guys can have some of these too,” Stray said, his mouth full of pastry and pointing to the assortment around him. There was a combination of desert cakes and cookies arranged in the middle of the table, making the scene look more like a bake sale than a “friendly” talk between friends. A tray of drinks stood off to the side and by the looks of the ice bucket, it was put there recently. _Were they expecting me?_ Eclipse thought, nodding when Stray held up the pot of coffee. Heine held out his hand and shook his head when he was offered the same, leaving a pouty Stray to walk back to the table and eat another pastry.

“So, shall we catch up? I’m sure you want to hear about our escape.” FS smiled over the brim of his cup and Eclipse actually felt something she hadn’t expected to feel from him. It could have been the lighting or just the strange circumstances, but her heart had skipped in that moment and after feeling it again when he put the cup on the saucer with a similar smile on his lips, she realized it wasn’t affection in that moment she had felt, it was nerves. Despite her warm welcome, despite her complete elation at seeing them again and in seeing them free of that damned facility, that one look from FS made her nervous.

“Everything did go as planned actually,” he continued, apparently not noticing her internal turmoil. “The uproar in the cafeteria brought a lot of the instructors running, but unfortunately for them, not all were armed. We grabbed the guns of the ones that were, made short work of the rest and then met Roan at the front gate. He arranged cars for each of us and tickets to Earth.”

“Wait, Roan? Captain Vindur’s nephew, Roan? And why Earth?” Eclipse asked.

“We weren’t 100 percent sure Roan’s motivations were at the time, but he was loyal to the cause and was our way out,” Stray explained for FS, a sugar cookie in his mouth. “Vindur was found dead an hour after he saw you, Avalanche and Chronos off. We think it was Roan, but he denies it every time we ask. There’s something in his eyes that says otherwise, though.”

“Why Earth?” FS took another sip of his coffee before continuing. “It would’ve been too easy to find us if we stayed in outer space, so we fled on a private vessel. Besides, on Earth we were able to gather together and work on what we were going to do next. We had _some_ ideas, but nothing felt terribly rewarding. Kross mentioned—”

“Wait, Lieutenant Kross too?” Eclipse cut in.

“Yup. There were only three instructors that came. Kross, Roan, and Miato. Roan helped us get out, Miato gave us some fire power, and Kross covered our whereabouts. Just for that, we let them live,” Stray went on. “We only lost one in the escape, Crimson Tear, and a few others were injured, but other than that, everything went well.”

“I took out Ameria for you,” FS added, gazing at Eclipse over the rim of his cup as he took another sip. Eclipse felt the nervousness return and tried to hide it in her own coffee, hoping he hadn’t noticed. “Got her hand pretty good first of course. She cried like an infant too.”

“I was embarrassed _for_ her it was so bad.” Eclipse looked at Stray then, seeing him smile at the memory and stare up at one of the chandeliers, a cookie dangling between his lips. “But hey,” he continued between bites, “she hurt you, we hurt her; it was as simple as that.”

A silence passed between the group, FS and Stray seemingly remembering the event and sharing a couple, pleased looks between the two as Eclipse risked a look back at her fellow elite. Heine hadn’t been looking at her, but at them, attempting to mask a mixture of confusion and horror on his face. Eclipse noticed his battle, however, and frowned. If he had known the players involved, he might not have been so horrified, but she couldn’t blame him for feeling uncomfortable as they exchanged stories about their newly dead superior officers.

“How’d you guys get back in space then?” Eclipse asked, pulling them back to the conversation.

“We heard rumors of a rebel group seeking refuge here. From what intel we had gathered, they are a group of 52 or so soldiers from a special program that the Earth Alliance had been conducting. We contacted them from Earth and set up a meeting where we decided to join forces.”

Eclipse nodded slowly, both surprised that FS’s gang wasn’t the rebels they had been tasked with finding and a bit fearful that there were others around she knew nothing about. At least she knew what to expect from the Januarias 4 escapees.

“Join forces?” she asked. “For what?”

“We’ll get onto that in a little bit.” It was a flippant power move and Eclipse felt herself frown. FS grabbed a cookie from the table, offered it to each in turn, but ended up shrugging and eating it himself when neither Heine nor Eclipse had grabbed it. “We came expecting 50 trained soldiers, but in fact we found 30 young adults our age, 6 adults, and 16 children 10 years and younger.”

“Children?”

“Yup. They said they were from some program at a facility called De’Amelith on Earth. None of them have gone into detail on what happened there, but one did mention drugs and Coordinators.” He shrugged. “Judging by the power gap between Coordinators and Naturals, I’d say the Earth Forces were trying to make soldiers to contend with the ZAFT military.”

“Drugs? Seems extreme…” Eclipse set her empty mug on the saucer and put that on the table, barely registering that she had even been drinking the liquid. She held up her hand and shook her head when Stray had asked if she wanted more and gave a soft smile and pat on the arm when his pouting face made her feel bad.

“It does, but I’m not entirely sure we can judge on what is considered extreme in this war.” Eclipse, FS, and Stray all shared a knowing look, no doubt a tell so loud not even Heine could miss it.

Eclipse sighed. “Am I allowed to ask where they are now?”

“You’re _allowed_ to do whatever you want,” FS responded with a snort. “They’re spread throughout the colonies.” Eclipse saw Heine tense and her eyes narrowed at the statement. “Oh, but don’t worry I doubt your ZAFT buddies will find them; they’re pretty well-hidden. And, before you ask, yes, I am aware of your little recon mission.” His lips curved upwards at that and he chuckled. “When we saw you on the roster, we could barely contain our delight. The plan was that one of our groups would find you and, thankfully, Rya and Spencer got last-minute information on the location drops, so we found you before you left the district all together.”

A short silence passed as Eclipse digested the information. It was a lot to take in ranging from the Earth Forces’ drug-infused Naturals to FS’s apparently knowledge of Eclipse and Heine’s covert mission. “Wait,” she began, thinking on that matter in particular. “You said you knew about the mission. How?”

“We have other friends, you know,” Stray said, accenting his statement with a few attempts at tossing some pastry bits into his mouth. He caught on once and turned to Heine, tossing a piece his way and laughing when it hit the unamused elite on the shoulder.

“Two others besides you, Chronos, and Avalanche were sent out of the facility,” FS explained, smiling at Stray’s antics. “They were Revelation and Spector and heard of the rebellion before you got wind of it. They fed us the information before they bailed.”

“Hold on, Rya was….”

“Revelation, LE. You see, many of our codenames were, apparently, chosen from the first letters of our first, middle, or last names. I’m not sure if ‘creative’ is a good word for it, but no matter,” FS said.

“So, Fire Storm stands for—”

“Revelin Fidel Sloan.”

“Revelin?” Eclipse cocked an eyebrow.

“Yup. I like it a lot better than Fire Storm, personally.”

“So, Stray is…”

“Jaeger Seoras, my dear Lexi.” To accent the statement, he bowed and took her hand in his and kissed it. The gloved pilot suit didn’t seem to matter and aside from the chocolate stain on his front tooth, it was cute.

While she might have been amused by Stray’s act, hearing her name made her cringe. It had been a long since she had heard the name and honestly, she didn’t like the sound of it anymore. Lunar Eclipse seemed to match her better now. 

Lexi sounded too human.

“Lexi Rymyr actually. I wonder, where does ‘Eclipse’ come from then? A middle name perhaps?” FS asked.

“Nice try,” Eclipse said with a frown.

“Aw, Lexi c’mon!” Stray pouted.

“No, and please stop calling me that. Eclipse or LE fits me better.”

“Why do you say that?” Heine asked, turning all attention to him. Being the odd one out, Eclipse was surprised to see him voice up, but she had been even more taken aback by his question. The answer seemed obvious to her.

“Well, Lunar Eclipse just sounds more like what I am.”

“ _What_ you are?” Heine didn’t miss the wording and frowned.

“Now, now, Mr. Westenfluss, we can’t blame her entirely.” The look FS gave in that moment sent a shiver down Eclipse’s spine, jumping well passed nervousness in that moment. If Eclipse hadn’t displayed any sort of comradery to Heine earlier, she was suddenly very aware that FS probably would have killed him for being a nuisance alone. Speaking up then was not helping Heine’s odds of surviving and he must have noticed it too.

“We can blame our desperation for that way of thinking,” FS continued. “A desperate soldier can be only two things in battle, either extremely powerful—in the sense that their paranoia heightens their senses—or powerless—meaning that it could consume them, ultimately leading them to destruction. At that facility we were all like that, teetering on the edge of insanity. But as time went on, we did what our superiors wanted and learned to control our desperation and ultimately pushing away that insanity.”

“FS, where is this coming from? Why are you bringing it up?”

“LE, haven’t you ever wondered why we ended up like we did?” Eclipse opened her mouth to continue, but FS interrupted. “That control didn’t come without a price. With all that paranoia inside, there had to be some kind of outlet or it’d eat each of us raw.”

“Some resorted to excessive violence,” Stray continued for him, “going as far as torturing their prisoners after a large amount of information was already gathered, or even killing the prisoner—inhumanely in many cases—before even starting the interrogation.” He shrugged and based on that reaction alone, Eclipse wondered if he had been one of those types. “It was always a bloody mess and none of the superiors took the situation lightly. The culprit was usually punished severely, but for some reason the outlet went beyond having the damage done to others. It consumed them as well, making them nothing more than masochists and the punishments, play time.

“Most succumbed to the sexual side of the picture, proving the more logical reasons behind the many locks on your door, LE,” Stray continued. “Though there were plenty of willing outlets for that.” The redhead hid a shiver. There were times she actually heard the locks being deciphered on her door, one after another, but a guard always seemed to stop by at the right moment. Usually, she had stood next to the door in hopes of ambushing the assailant, but she never knew for sure who or what was trying to break in.

Some nights, she never got to sleep. 

“And the few who couldn’t find a sufficient outlet embraced their insanity. I think Avalanche was a prime example. He may not have been as bad as a few others, but he wasn’t sound minded either. A little too devilish even by our standards.”

“Despite all of this,” FS continued, taking a glance at Eclipse, “there was a method that worked; the one each of us used. We embraced our desperation, but buried, or even lost, something in return. Our ‘humanity,’ I guess you could call it. Though it’s probably closer to say we have the unique ability of being able to turn our ‘humanity’ off and often thrive without it.” 

Eclipse stopped, suddenly remembering the page back in her journal. Was that what she meant by those words? Did she lock everything away in hopes of getting it back later? 

Was that possible, or just naiveté?

“With our emotions suppressed, we had a whole bunch of extra space and the paranoia had enough room to change and develop, ultimately turning us into what we are now.” FS shrugged as if it didn’t matter and Eclipse found herself mimicking the gesture, realizing in that moment that she also didn’t find it to be a hinderance. Actually, it seemed like a strength. “Our way seemed to work the best and that would explain why we excelled in the program, but the sad part is, being the best meant we had to _keep_ being the best. That heightened state of mind and then being in it 24/7?” He shrugged again. “That, LE, is why we are such valuable assets. As long as we are kept working and the paranoia at its peak, we can do almost anything.”

“ _Anything_ is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” Eclipse muttered.

“Are you so sure? How many mothers have been able to somehow lift cars from their injured child? How many fathers have run miles to find lost children and come home barely out of breath? In the moment of pure desperation, a person can do anything,” FS explained simply. “I guess it all depends on who you speak to. To the military, we’re perfect soldiers: we follow orders without disagreements, we always do things to the best of our abilities, and we have no regard for our wellbeing. To others though, we’re probably closer to monsters for much the same reasons: having no opinion and always doing as told, rarely have a day of poor performance, and are sooner to pass out from exhaustion than not finish an objective.”

Eclipse found herself frowning once more, digesting the information being shoveled in her direction. She could feel the truth in what they were saying, but she was also very aware that while her cold demeanor extended to others, it didn’t extend to these two. Perhaps there was something in that? Was it safety? Did she feel safe with them? Looking at each in turn, she knew that was part of it, but most of all she knew they understood her—knew shew as more than just a skillset in a file. In that moment, it trumped everything. “That’s good and all, but I don’t understand. Why did you tell me this? Sometimes ignorance _is_ bliss and I really didn’t want to know I’m full of paranoia. What does this have to do with anything?”

“Motive,” Stray stated, still making his way through the mound of pastries. Eclipse had to admit it was impressive.

“Motive? For what?”

“Think about it, Lexi.” Eclipse scowled but FS continued anyway. “We’re all in the same boat. The soldiers from the Earth Forces were experimented on as much as we were, maybe even more. We became lab rats of a war that’s getting out of hand and because of that, we’re going to stop it.”

“Stop it?” she echoed.

“Yes, end all the fighting.”

“How?”

“By doing the most logical thing; get rid of the people involved.” FS shrugged as if it was the most obvious solution and Eclipse felt her eyes grow wide.

“People involved?”

“Man, LE, I thought you were smarter than this. Both militaries of course.” FS got to his feet to pour himself another mug of coffee, leaning against the table as he stirred in some sugar.

“ _That’s_ logical to you?”

“In order to stop this thing, we have to use what skills we were given. ZAFT and the Earth Forces made us this way, why not give them a cut from their own sword?” FS asked. 

“Is this a cry for peace or revenge? Guys, we’re out; we’re finally free. Why can’t we try and go back?” Eclipse pleaded. Everything had made sense until that moment. What happened to them understanding her? What happened to their plan of just getting out and then forming some kind of life?

“Back? Back where? We never had homes or families, remember? There’s nowhere to go back to,” Stray said, and Eclipse felt hurt in that moment. Even Stray felt the same way.

“Then start over. We said we would start over.”

“How? You said it yourself, we’re not human anymore. What type of life would that be?” FS asked as Eclipse’s breath started to quicken.

“Fine, say we took out the people involved and then tried to shape some kind of life. _Who_ do we blame? There’s no short list of people. The authority for our program went all the way to the Council and no doubt it’s the same for the others from the EA.” Eclipse could feel Heine’s eyes on her and could nearly hear his judgement. They probably should have tried to flee the moment they claimed their desire to be grim reaper, but Eclipse couldn’t.

Not them.

“Who is to blame, FS?”

“Then we blame everyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another chapter, so thanks for stopping by! I wanted to plow through this section, but what I had originally thought was going to be just a clean up, turned out being and almost 80% rewrite. I reworked the dialogue a bit, condensed it in places and tried to narrow it down to be less all over the place. We'll see if I succeeded. 
> 
> Mostly dialogue in this chapter though, sorry about that. Hopefully, it wasn't too unbearable and easy to follow. I haven't had the time yet to do a full proofread so I might be going back in later to clean it up a little, but I think it's pretty good for now. Do let me know if that is not the case.
> 
> Well, keen to move onto the next one, so I hope this chapter is up to your liking! Thanks again for taking a moment to have a read and I'll see you next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	17. Mending Hearts and Breaking Minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Eclipse stay with FS and Stray? And what will happen to Heine?

** Mending Hearts and Breaking Minds **

_Who made you god?_ Heine thought, withholding a scowl. The only reason he was still there was a combination of a low probability of getting out of there alive, and despite Eclipse’s affectionate reunion before, she seemed to be cooling to their hosts. Heine and the redhead had made eye contact soon after FS finished speaking and more was shared in that one look than their entire Afternoon Tea debacle. 

“What you’re suggesting is—” Eclipse began, but was cut off by her two friends.

“Realistic?” FS suggested.

“Obvious?” Stray added.

“—suicidal,” Eclipse finished. “You blame everyone? There’s no way you can kill everyone in both the Earth Forces _and_ ZAFT.”

“That’s why we take out the biggest threat, ZAFT, first and then move on to the Naturals. For goodness sakes, LE, we pick ‘em apart gradually, not all at once,” FS groaned. Heine clenched his fists at his side. Based on that reaction alone, he could tell their kind host was getting frustrated. Most likely, he had expected his favorite redhead to join them straight away, but Eclipse seemed to have a little more sanity than he had given her credit for. “The reason people turn to violence, is because there’s some, primal impulse to. We overload that primal instinct or even get rid of that impulse, and we end the war.”

“But by killing everyone?”

“Only in the militaries.”

“Why?”

“What other type of individual has this impulse more? If we get rid of them, we stop the war and keep another one from happening. As long as there are people who want to fight, wars will never end.”

“You’re going to kill random soldiers? You’re not even going to give them a chance?” Eclipse asked, Heine noticing that her hands were starting to clench as well.

“Why should we? You know yourself there are no innocents in the military. Whether the people are killing others directly or indirectly by fixing machines,” FS explained, looking down at her from his spot near the table, his eyes following her as he finished the liquid in his coffee cup. Still standing, he reached over and poured himself more. How could he drink at a time like this?

“I realize that, but if you’re trying to get rid of everyone to stop the fighting—for revenge—or whatever—you might as well start right here. Have you ever thought that by doing this you’ll be starting another war _yourselves_? What, you become an outlier in a war by killing both sides and then have _them_ come after you?”

“It may come to that,” FS said, matching the redhead’s stare with a cool one of his own. “But we’ll have to wait and watch things unfold.”

“Damnit, FS, you’re not making any sense. So, you plan on killing everyone, destroying their will to fight, _and_ committing martyrdom all at the same time?”

“Lexi, Lexi,” he chided, shaking his head. “You know there is more than one way to shift someone’s primal impulses, and not all of them include a knife to the heart. Are we not prime examples?”

There was something about the way he smiled that unnerved Heine, and he was getting goose bumps from the experience. But it wasn’t from being cold. Was he scared? “You’re insane!”

“You stay quiet,” Stray hissed in an outburst that seemingly surprised everyone but FS. He smiled. Eclipse’s voice dipped into a snarl.

“If you don’t want him to speak then why tell us so much? What is any logical person supposed to think when you spew this kind of garbage? Destroying both armies? Ridiculous!” She rose from her chair at the exclamation, both fury and confusion etched across her face. Her hand went to her hair, scratching the back of her head as she stood and digested what she was “What do you mean? This is what we were aiming for all along,” FS hissed, reaching out and grabbing Eclipse hard around her left elbow instead of going for his gun. Heine stepped forward instinctively and he noticed Stray had done the same thing. Despite his demeanor before, the chef looked concerned about the series of events in front of him. Even though he was following FS, he didn’t seem to want Eclipse hurt.

Interesting.

She glared at him, a feral stare that Heine was sure even FS couldn’t feel comfortable being at the end of. Pulling her arm out of his grip, her voice grew soft. “I don’t remember you saying anything about destroying the entire human population.”

“It’s not the entire population,” FS corrected.

“Close enough,” she spat. “After those massacres who is supposed to be left?”

“The ones willing to keep the peace.” What they were saying sounded logical enough, Heine knew—in a sadistic sort of way. But how logical was it _really_? It sounded more like the last desperate attempt of someone trying to find a purpose or a reason to live a life someone else had given him. It was dangerous and when a moment of realization and pain crossed Eclipse’s face, he knew she had seen it too.

“What you’re suggesting takes time, money, and organizing. The war will probably be over with by the time you achieve all those things.”

“Do you honestly think the war will end soon?” FS asked Eclipse, his head cocking to the side and continuing before she could argue again. “We are more organized than you think and collectively go by the name of SIN-ED.” He paused and Heine cursed. “LE, we have a plan, have methods of achieving that plan, and have the resources to do it. This is the only thing we can think of to end all of this.” Heine had to look away from the two of them for the moment, biting his bottom lip. There was so much desperation passing between the two individuals that it felt almost too intimate.

Eclipse’s silence was telling and the internal struggle in his fellow elite was clear. Based on what Heine had witnessed that day, walking away from those two would be one of the hardest emotional things she would have to do and based on what he had also heard about that day, it would be one of the most non-lethal things she had done. A part of him had felt positive she wouldn’t join them just based on the rational he had been hearing from her, but emotions were rarely rational and despite what she claimed, she certainly had feelings—at least towards these two individuals. He couldn’t deny the fact that he was getting nervous.

Would she be able to walk away from the two people who brought out her humanity?

“There here has to be another way,” she breathed.

“No, LE, there isn’t. To stop death, we have to use it.”

When he put it that way, Heine had to admit even he found it plausible.

“Sleep on it. Spend the night here—both of you—and we’ll talk more in the morning. I’m sure you’ll see no other option, like we have. Please don’t make a decision now because I don’t want you to regret it later on.”

Eclipse didn’t respond and Stray took that as an affirmative, walking over to her and taking her elbow far more gently than FS had before. “Here, follow me.”

Heine clenched and unclenched his fists, casting a small glance at FS who was whispering something to Eclipse. The sight of them so close made his heart twist, but he didn’t think it was from any sort of affection he might have had for the redhead. _What will you decide, Eclipse?_

* * *

Stray escorted them back to the lobby and then up the main staircase. Pausing to grab some keys from behind the front desk, he suddenly snapped his fingers and disappeared down one of the hallways. Many of the SIN-ED members were still in the lobby, but what they were doing neither redcoat had a clue. Gambling it looked like. The chef returned a few minutes later, flashing a smile. “I forgot I left something in the oven.”

Not even Heine seemed to be in the mood to groan.

“Mr. Westenfluss, you’ll stay in this room and LE, you’ll stay—”

“We’ll be staying together,” the redhead responded quickly, matching her friend’s stare with a stern one of her own. “I may trust you and FS to keep him safe, but the others are a different matter. He’s not leaving my sight.”

“No others are on this floor. Revelin and I are on the one below, so we won’t be bothering you either.”

“It doesn’t matter; we’re in the same room.”

“Revelin’s not going to like that.” Eclipse didn’t budge and the chef just sighed, flipping through his keys for a different room. He motioned them to the third door down. 

“Here’s a room with two separate beds. I’ll have some different clothes brought up for you because I bet those space suits are getting pretty uncomfortable right now. You should have towels in the bathroom and the water’s working so you can freshen up if you’d like.” He smiled faintly, but upon seeing Eclipse’s stern look, it slowly drooped to a frown. He reached out then and touched her cheek, the redhead’s features, surprisingly, softening. “There was a time when just the sight of me would make you smile. You were like that when you arrived and I wanted nothing more than to keep that happiness on your face. Now it seems to have melted off and I know that not even a ‘sorry’ will bring it back.” He sighed and his hand dropped back to his side. “Revelin’s changed—both of us have—but change is what we needed. We’re not the mindless weapons we were back on Januarias, but we haven’t evolved past the two friends you came to rely on.”

Eclipse swallowed the painful lump in her throat, but couldn’t find any words.

“Please think about it—what Revelin said. Only when we stop others from going backwards, can we move forward. You understand that, right? Please, we want you here—no, _need_ you here. LE, we’re so close—so close to the future we wanted. We said we’d survive it together, right?” There were no words to describe the look on his face. It ranged between admiration and fear, but which one it was, Eclipse couldn’t decide. She didn’t want to leave them, that was the problem, she knew.

“Stray, you do realize FS might be—”

He kissed her forehead before she could go any further, stopping her mid-sentence and leaving her frozen in the doorway as he left. He was the one who had always surprised her with his antics, but this time she didn’t have a sarcastic remark or wise crack. 

She was speechless.

Eclipse shut the door after her and Heine had walked into the room, leaning her forehead against the wood and breathing a few times to steady herself.

Crazy.

That’s what her friends turned out to be. They talked about paranoia and insanity, never once referencing themselves, but the sad thing was, they had crossed the same bridge as Avalanche. Destroying everyone? Did that seem like a logical solution to this war? No, not at all, so why did they suggest it? A house, that was all that she wanted. A nice quiet house in the middle of nowhere she could relax and forget everything she went though. The sight of FS in the lobby had been the light of hope in her darkness of death. They were going to take her away from the war and ZAFT.

That’s how it was supposed to be.

“I think I owe you a huge apology,” Heine said quietly. “And a ‘thank you,’ to be fair. Sorry for my annoying antics before and ‘thank you’ for not getting angry at me about them. I didn’t realize what you had gone through.” 

At first the redhead didn’t say anything, still trying to erase the sight of her non-existing, happy future. Only when he stood behind her did she turn and respond. “You don’t have to apologize for having a personality, and, frankly, not many know about that bit of ZAFT history so you could even call yourself lucky.” She gave a soft smile and sighed, walking past him to go sit on the edge of the bed. “Until a brief moment today, my plan had been to go through the war, do what I was told, and then die. Morbid, sure, but despite any fantasy I might have had, the reality was there. That one moment I saw them though—saw that they were free, I got my hopes up again.” She fell backwards on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling. Heine had made his way over to the other bed and sat, listening.

“But after this, what is there to expect? Being who I am, what can I _honestly_ look forward to?” She turned her head and gave a soft smile. “Heine, I’m sorry you got dragged into that. Somehow I doubt it was a comfortable position to be in.”

“Well, you’re not lying,” he said simply and shook his head. “I didn’t realize both the EA and ZAFT were doing experimental programs though. That took me by surprise.”

Eclipse nodded and turned back to look at the ceiling. “Yes, ZAFT made us who we are and the Council approved of it, but why, I don’t think I’ll ever know. I _am_ like them, but I still haven’t decided how much. A lot of things they said made sense to me and perhaps it’s only a matter of time.”

“Like them? Matter of time?”

“Go insane.”

A loud knock at the door broke into the conversation. Heine went to open it and came back with a laundry basket full of four sets of clothing (pajamas and a set of clothes for the next day), their backpacks, a manila folder, and a plate of bread. “The guy said it’s banana-flavored and from Jaeger. I’m assuming he cooked it just for you. You like bread or something?” 

She gave a sad smiled. “I don’t have a huge passion for it, but I don’t mind it either. Was there a note?”

“No, nothing. It smells really good though.”

"I bet it’ll taste just as good. Did you want a piece? We never did eat anything in the ballroom, did we?”

“You think it’s safe?” he asked quietly, carrying the basket inside and putting it on the one desk off to the side of the room.

“Should be. I don’t think they’d go through all that just to poison us.”

He picked up the manila folder and walked it over to her, holding it out. “Well, you know them better than I do.” He turned once she grabbed the paperwork, walking over to their backpacks and starting to organize his things. He was quieter than normal then, she noticed, making her think the ordeal had startled him more than he was letting on. In fact, that realization surprised her.

When did she start to care?

Shaking her head, she looked at the folder in her hands. There was a note taped to the inside flap and she tore it off before reading. 

_This’ll be short because I don’t want to bother you more than I already have. Inside is your profile that we took from the facility’s records. This is how we found out your name, among other various gifts. You’re very special, Lexi, and it goes beyond your alluring personality or ability to tame renegades like Revelin and I. The profile’s yours to keep because technically we have no claim of it._

_P.S. I made the bread specially for you. The chocolate is for how sweet you are and the bananas are because you’ve always been my favorite fruit cake. The nuts have no reference to your personality whatsoever._

_Love always,_

_Jaeger (Stray)_

Eclipse smiled, withholding the small chuckle in the back of her throat. _That boy was always a strange one,_ she thought, _but adorable just the same._

She set the folder down next to her on the bed after reading the letter, not finding the courage to open it just yet. She was special, Stray had said, but what characteristic made her so? It wasn’t her femininity because Vindur despised that. Then what was it? Plenty of things skipped into her head, but none of them were pleasant. It was a hard subject to breach at that moment, so she decided to swallow her humanity then a think of what they needed to do next. She had already decided she wasn’t going to stay and as painful as that thought had been, she knew she couldn’t be a part of what they were going to do.

 _“Furete temo, tsumetai yubisaki._ _Kkooritsuita, tsuki ni terasarete._

_“_ _Hibiwareta kokoro ga, moetsukiru yoru o dakukedo._ _Isshun no kanata de, kirameita omoi ga, ai nara, maboroshi ni shitemisete.”_ **(***)**

Heine had started singing softly, having finished his brief organizing and lying back on the bed, mimicking her pose from before. She recognized the tune from what he had sung on the trip over to the colony and found herself smiling sadly. It was lovely at that time, but now it seemed sad. So much had happened since the long ride and it all seemed like a dream. Their team had lost two rookies within the first minutes of the mission and they were practically captives in hostile territory. Her past had gotten them into this mess, and it was up to her to get them out.

But how?

She needed to find a weapon, something to defend them both until proper artillery could be found.

To stop death, she’d have to use it. 

_“_ _Hanatsu hikari, sora ni ochiru, nozomu dake no, netsu o sasagete._ _Shini yuku hoshi no, unda honoo ga, saigo no yume ni, yakarete iruyo.”_

She made a quick look around the room, trying to find anything of use, but came up empty-handed even after rifling through her backpack. Her weaponry had been taken, which was to be expected, so her next stop was the bathroom. Fishing through the drawers, and even opening the medicine cabinet, left her with nothing more than a hairbrush to work with. Not very promising, but looking up she saw it. 

A mirror.

 _“Furitsumoru, tsumi wa yasashisa ni, toge wa emi ni, kaete yukeru nara._

_“Chiru magiwa no hana no todokanai sakebi nimo nita—_ ”

Eclipse heard him stumble over the final line. He had gone a little further than the last time she heard, but only by a word or two. He cursed loudly and started the verse again, but still couldn’t think of anything. 

“Hey, you have any idea what the next line should say?” 

“I can’t concentrate on something like that right now.” 

“Oh, nothing at all?” 

“Sorry.” 

He sighed loudly and tried again, this time starting back from the beginning of the refrain. 

Pushing the song into the background, she returned to the task at hand. She glanced at the reflection in the mirror and found herself frowning. Had she always looked that tired? Grasping the brush firmly, she struck the bottom, left corner of the mirror. Long cracks spread over the surface, distorting her image, but still picking up the smile that appeared on her lips 

“Ah-ha!” the singer proclaimed from the other room. “I have something now!” 

_“Furitsumoru, tsumi wa yasashisa ni, toge wa emi ni, kaete yukeru nara._

_“Chiru magiwa no hana no, todokanai sakebi nimo nita_ _inori no hakanasa ga, motomeru setsunasa ga, futari no, deatta, toki o yurasu.”_

“Sound good?” 

“Not now.” 

“Ah, but you’re my muse; what you say matters. Can’t you see I’ve come up with so much more now that you’re with me? I’ve been working on the line for weeks and you don’t have any words of encouragement or congratulation for me? That hurts, partner.” 

Same old Heine. 

“Yeah, care to help me out instead of singing? Though, I didn’t mind your noise covering up _my_ noise.” 

“So, what are you—hey! That’s seven years bad luck!” he hissed, trying to keep his voice down. 

“Well, good thing I don’t believe in superstitions.” She managed to lift out one of the bigger pieces using the end of the brush and handed it to Heine who grabbed a towel before taking it. The fabric in his suit probably would have been able to handle it just fine, but she had to admit it was a good idea. Returning to the mirror, she jostled out and the other larger piece below the first one. 

“What’s your plan?” 

“Well, I’m anticipating a lot of gunfire when we walk out.” 

“I assumed they didn’t want you harmed.” 

Eclipse nodded and wrapped the glass in a towel much like Heine. “I’m sure that courtesy extends only as far as me agreeing to join their group.” 

“Despite what you may think, I have a feeling they won’t kill you as quickly as you let on.” 

“It’s cute that you think that,” she started, looking at him and shaking her head. “It’s a bit naïve, unfortunately.” 

He shrugged. “Just optimistic.” 

“Sometimes they mean the same thing,” Eclipse sighed, grabbing her backpack on the bed. She slipped the manila folder in one of the pockets before tossing the bag to Heine. 

He caught it with his open hand and slung it around one shoulder, careful of the glass still in his right hand. “You’re just pessimistic.” 

“No, realistic.” 

He sighed and didn’t argue, instead moving onto the next issue on hand. “What are we going to do for helmets? I don’t know about you, but I can’t hold my breath long.” 

“I think I saw something that could pass for a storeroom at the end of the hall. I’m hoping there’ll be two in there.” 

“Hoping?” 

“I’m trying the optimistic thing.” 

“It’s not working for you.” 

“Well, a person can’t be good at everything.” 

Heine shrugged and took a deep breath, leading the way towards the door. He was about to turn the handle when he saw Eclipse near the desk chewing something. “What the hell are you doing?” 

“I would’ve felt bad if I left without tasting Stray’s bread.” 

“You’re kidding, right?” 

“Like I said before, there are some things you wouldn’t understand about Stray, FS, and I.” 

“Apparently not…” 

They were out of the room a few moments later, the muffled noises of people talking, laughing, and drinking below. It looked like Stray and FS had held true to their word and no one was on the floor, but the redhead was having her doubts about the sincerity of the SIN-ED members. For what it was worth, however, she still trusted her two friends. 

There was that optimistic thing again. 

Heine took a long look up and down the hall before flicking his head back down towards the room Eclipse had guessed was the storeroom. They both held their glass low, taking special care to neither hit each other nor themselves as they hurried across the carpet. Heine checked each door as they passed them, nodding to confirm they were locked and Lexi followed behind him slowly, watching their backside and down towards the staircase. 

The room was indeed a storeroom and Heine confirmed as much, switching places with Eclipse as she crouched low to pick the lock. It wasn’t a modern lock and didn’t take very long, both pushing through the door and shutting it quietly after they stepped inside. 

Heine pulled out the flashlight from the side of his backpack and searched the room, shifting the glass shard into his left hand. “Anything we can use?” 

“Yup. Two helmets, just like I thought.” She pointed to the back corner and he swung the light back around to illuminate the area. It looked to house other emergency supplies ranging from first aid to full space suits, but the helmets were their top priority in that moment. 

“Score one for woman’s intuition, now let’s get going.” 

Eclipse nodded and handed her partner one of the helmets. It was a slim model, which was nice, but the coloring threw him off. He frowned. “Are you giving me this bright color, so I’ll be picked out first and shot?” 

It was orange. 

“I gave it to you by default, so stop complaining. Would you rather have white?” 

“What’s so bad about white?” 

“What’s so bad about orange?” 

“Oh, never mind.” 

“Never minding.” 

After putting on their helmets, they took one last look at each other and Heine turned off the light, Eclipse opening the door and holding it open for him as they stepped out. The deafening silence made her nervous. Either the helmet was blocking out any sounds that had been coming up from the floor below, or the noises had stopped completely. She tensed and they began their trek back down the hall. 

“It can’t be this easy,” she whispered to him when they sidestepped to the fire escape door to their right. 

“You have a problem with things being easy?” he asked quietly in reply and moved to push open the fire escape. Eclipse tensed and cursed when she saw the black toe of a boot through the gap, but their cover had already been blown the moment they opened the door. Two SIN-ED members about their age were in the stairwell, but, fortunately, they were just as surprised as the redcoats in front of them. Apparently, Heine had good luck after all. 

“What the hell—” one of them began, but was cut off as soon as Eclipse curved around Heine and stepped through the gap, stabbing the mirror shard up and under his chin, catching his throat with gruesome accuracy. She put a hand over his gargling mouth to keep the noise to a minimum and guided him to the ground. 

Heine was a little slower to react, slipping through the door after the redhead, but still before the other guard could fully react. He pushed the guard’s attempt at bringing around his weapon out wide, stepping through his defenses and punched him hard in the gut, knocking the breath out of him. Still conscious, he brought his elbow down hard and across his temple, finally leading him to the sweet bliss of unconsciousness. 

“Couldn’t you have just done that?” 

She frowned and shrugged, wiping the blood off on the unstained fabric she could find on her victim. “When this man comes back to kill you one day you may regret that decision.” 

“Will I?” 

“I think you forgot what SIN-ED’s main objective is.” 

“But we don’t have to become one of them.” 

“I’m already one of them,” she finished, and before he could add in a counter argument, she pointed at the gun slung around her victim. “Grab that.” Heine nodded. 

Reaching around Heine’s unconscious prey, she unhooked the strap from the rifle and set the weapon down next to her, using the holder to bind the guard’s hands to the railing before picking up the rifle once more. 

“We need to hurry.” 

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” he said, saving his moral discussion for later. They were going to have a good talk as soon as things settled down.

* * *

The loud banging on the door wasn’t exactly a pleasant sound for the two friends sitting on the inside. It had been over two hours, three pieces of cheesecake, and two cups of tea later since the all-important chat with Eclipse and her annoying comrade. Stray and FS still sat around the same table in the ballroom, enjoying each other’s company, silence, and good food. They had discussed their impressions of the earlier conversation and despite what they had hoped would happen, they had both agreed that Eclipse didn’t like the plan. 

FS had found himself both furious and saddened by the realization, having already thrown an unfortunate cup and saucer on the ballroom floor. He couldn’t tell what Stray had been thinking, but seeing as he had barely eaten anything within the past couple hours, FS had a guess. 

They had just begun trying to devise some way to convince Eclipse to stay with them when the loud banging and announcement of the redcoats’ escape found its way into the ballroom. The two weapons took the news calmly and dismissed the messenger once he was finished, but that first impression was short lived. “We knew she wasn’t going to stay,” FS remarked, setting his cup down on the table. 

“I was still hoping she would,” Stray pouted, shoving a spoon full of strawberry topping into his mouth in what was probably a gesture to make himself feel better. “She seemed impressed for a while there, but I don’t know what happened.” 

“Maybe we can blame her partner for that one. He seemed to have some influence on her.” 

“Which is surprising. That girl doesn’t open up to others very well.” Stray paused mid-bite, setting down his fork and pushing the cheesecake off to the side. Apparently, the topping had done nothing to improve his mood. 

“We should try to bring her back,” FS said, rubbing his fingers at his temples, a headache brewing. 

“I don’t want to force her to be here, if that’s what you mean. What good is a follower who doesn’t believe in what we’re doing?” 

“But remember, it’s LE.” 

“And since it’s LE, we can’t make her do anything. It could be unhealthy for both the organization as well as us.” 

_But we need her, Jaeger,_ FS thought, deciding not to respond to his partner’s comment. _If only you understood how much._

“Sir!” a younger SIN-ED member shouted, barging through the doors without so much as a knock. The boy looked out of breath with sweat droplets already peppering his darkened forehead. 

“What is it now? We know about LE’s escape, so what could be more important?” FS groaned. 

“Sir, our sensors picked up two ZAFT mobile suits in the colony. We should get out—” 

“They’re probably here to find Lexi and her teammate,” Stray said, taking another sip from his cup. 

“Sir—” 

“Sounds about right. Shall we be going too, then? There’s really no more reason to stay.” FS sighed, finished the rest of his tea and stood. 

The chef followed suit a moment later. “So, we’re going to just leave her?” 

“There might be other chances to convince her to join us.” 

“Sir, I really think—” 

“Why the hell are you still here?” FS hissed at the boy, causing him to stiffen. “Clean up this goddamn mess and get ready to leave.” 

“S-sir,” he stuttered before fleeing out the door. 

FS sighed and shook his head. “That was one of the Naturals, wasn’t it?” 

“Please don’t give up on her too early, Revelin.” 

“I never said anything about giving up on her.” 

“We just need her to come willingly, that’s all.” 

“Yes, Jaeger, I know. C’mon, we have to get out of here before we’re spotted.” 

“She deserves to be here with us.” 

“I know that!” FS slammed the table after the remark, sending more then a few dishes falling to the floor. Stray didn’t even blink. “I _can’t_ worry about her stubborn ass at the moment. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other chances to convert her later on, but that’s the least of my worries. If we’re captured and killed, how can we hope to accomplish anything?” 

“But there’ll be other chances later on?” 

FS sighed, but nodded, his anger dissipating quickly. “Yes, I’m sure there will be.” 

Stray left it at that, hurrying after FS once his tea was finished. He would talk LE into joining them, it was as simple as that. There was no reason she should be stuck taking orders while him and Revelin were trying to save the human race—well, at least they were in the long run. _Hm, I wonder if she tried the bread_. 

* * *

“Check the radar again,” Heine ordered, tapping the airport console impatiently. They had managed to get a worded message out almost a half hour ago, but they had seen no sign of their armed comrades. Most likely, the message just didn’t get through and that caused more frustration than it was worth in that particular moment. “I don’t think we can just hang out here for much longer.” 

“I looked at it five seconds ago. I told you, there’s nothing,” Eclipse said, just as frustrated as her partner. It had been almost an hour since they had fled the hotel and they were on edge, if not downright paranoid. Someone from SIN-ED could be after them and they were wide open. Camping back at the terminal seemed the best option, but no one seemed to notice their distress. _Isn’t back-up supposed to, well, back you up?_ the redhead thought with a sigh. The bodies of their two comrades were in the same place they had fallen, bringing a frown to both pair of lips when they had returned to the terminal. 

“There has to be something. Check it again.” 

“Honestly, sir—” 

It sounded then, the familiar sound of the outside panel opening in the docking area and both turned to look out the window. To their relief, what walked into the docking area was two GINNs, fully armed. Figuring them to be the back-up the two redcoats were hoping for, Heine jumped back onto the console and wired another message. 

“How do we know you’re not lying to us?” came the reply and Heine gave their registration numbers, answered any passworded exchanges, and explained the situation. Eclipse was impressed by his patience, but she was far from that calm. 

She walked to the window and waved her arms. “Tell them about the fuckin’ beacons,” she hissed as she walked. “ _Surely_ , those will prove our location.” She heard him laugh and she whirled, beyond sick of that particular colony. 

“What?” she hissed. 

“Oh, nothing.” 

The pilots finally agreed on their authorization and the duo stepped out into the dock to converse further. They explained the situation again and the pilots got on their radios to inform the other teams. “I’ll call our superiors next and tell them what you found. You’re sure they left as soon as you spoke with them?” 

Heine glanced sideways at his partner. She had, in fact, outright lied about SIN-ED as soon as she was asked about their whereabouts. Heine was fairly confident they hadn’t left the colony yet and was thankful one GINN had been ordered to search it, but why had she lied? Was it to protect her friends? 

Wasn’t she supposed to be the perfect soldier? 

“Yes, sir. I’m not sure why they let us go so easily. Perhaps they were just overconfident, but we tried contacting you as soon as we knew it was safe.” 

“But you had five GINNs at your disposal. Surely, they didn’t have much more power than that,” the GINN pilot said. 

“We weren’t sure of their strength and I wasn’t about to find out. If they were willing to leave us all this information, then I call this a win.” 

He nodded slowly, but didn’t ask any further questions of her. “Westenfluss, what do you have to say? Do you agree with your partner’s account?” 

He paused for a moment, but ended up supporting the redhead. If the SIN-ED members were still around, they wouldn't be for much longer. 

“Alright, I’ll go report.” The pilot’s eyes scanned over to the terminal door and the bodies of the two younger members he knew were lying there. He sighed. “The carrier should be here in another hour or so. Just relax until then.” They saluted and went their separate ways, the pilot to the radio and the redcoats to return to the terminal. 

Eclipse took off her pack and sat down against the wall, sighing deeply. Heine took the seat across from her, swinging his own backpack off and watching her take out the manila folder. He smiled knowingly when she gave him a quizzical look, but said nothing else. _Thanks,_ she thought and stared at the folder in her hands, appreciating the fact that he was giving her some privacy. 

It wasn’t a surprise that both Stray and FS had stolen the member records, but she felt somewhat violated they had looked at them. Despite what she might have felt towards them, there were some things she would rather keep hidden. 

Including why she might be considered “special.” 

She opened it slowly, steadying her breath. Did she really want to know? Would it make things easier, or harder? Would anything change? _Only one way to find out,_ she thought, opening up the flap and pulling out the papers inside. 

A younger-looking Eclipse stared back at her, forcing her to remember back to the hotel and the tired face staring back at her. Her hair was long in the photo, about should length, and framing a juvenile face. Even though the picture was taken over a year ago, the weapon didn’t even recognize herself. Question was, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Scrawled across her picture was the word “Berserker?” in all capitals and she stared at the word for a moment, not completely understanding what it meant. Unable to process it at that moment, she moved on and glanced at her profile. 

Name: Lexi Emilia Rymyr 

Age: 14 

Birthday: March 24 

Blood Type: AB 

Codename: Lunar Eclipse 

Soldier Number: 8704298 

Personal Information: Runaway (believed to be from Orb). Family Unknown 

Abilities: Ambidexterity from wound to right hand. Highest marks in mobile suit simulations and gun use. Detached. Unpredictable. 

Weaknesses: Female. Low commanding skills. Rebel. 

Other Notes: Berserker. Given _Muscimol_ one week into training. Taken appropriately. Successful. 

She stopped and stared at the word “Berserker” again and felt her stomach wrench. If it was in her profile twice that had to mean it was of some significance, but what? And what was the _Muscimol_ all about? Was that the medicine she was given? It had to be. 

Some more, smaller stack of papers were behind the profile, going more in depth on her personality and skills. It was nothing she didn’t already know so she read through them quickly and moved onto the next section which did, indeed, make her pause. It seemed to be information about berserkers, the thing that she had been associated with in the profile. Steadily, she looked them over, but her calm façade soon turned to panic. Phrases like “…object of hate and scorn,” “…only purpose was to kill,” “…do things an ordinary man couldn’t,” “…butcher men and women indiscriminately,” and “…genetic flaws,” whispered through her mind as she read them, quickening her breath and causing her hands to sweat. This is what made her special? She was this? 

She remembered then, all the times she went into this “frenzied state” and did things she didn’t think possible. Sometimes the pain from her wounds wouldn’t register until hours after the battle simulations and reading the information, she knew why. Berserkers felt little to no pain and fought through injuries. They were set loose on communities and “killed everything they met, not even distinguishing between friend and foe.” That was why she felt no remorse after interrogations and how she killed MR so easily. 

A weapon. That was it; that was why she was so important. 

She was precisely what they had been looking for. 

“Eclipse? Hey, are you okay?” Heine asked, jumping to her side once her panic had become audible. She felt her hands shaking and despite the need to stop looking at that word, she couldn’t force herself to put the paperwork away. 

Berserker. 

“Eclipse?” 

“C-can you sing that song again, Heine? I really need to hear it right now.” 

He paused, his surprise outweighing his concern for a second. Did she just call him by his name and not “sir?” “I don’t think—” 

“Please,” she pleaded, unable to hide the crack in her voice as she spoke. 

There was another, longer pause as he wrestled with the idea, but eventually he sighed, going back to his seat across from her and started humming. The redhead listened quietly, glad he wasn’t sitting beside her and no one else was around. _Perhaps FS, Stray, and I aren't so different after all,_ she decided, looking down at the profile again.

_Maybe we're all insane._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (***)  
> Song: "Meteor"  
> Singer: T.M. Revolution  
> Composer: Daisuke Asakura  
> Writer: Akio Inoue
> 
> Personal Notes: I take no credit for this song whatsoever. I do not own it, nor do I own any part of it. It is an insert song for Gundam SEED and as such I felt it okay to put in the story. Also, since the character "Heine Westenfluss" is based off the original singer T.M. Revolution, having him sing the song only seemed appropriate. Since music is a main theme for this story, having the songs from the series worked well for both the plot and characterization. There will be more songs in the future for those same reasons.
> 
> Sincerely, Strata_Assassin
> 
> \------------------  
> Hello all, I thought I would post this one today too since they are kind of a set and because I changed so much, if someone was interested in reading the next area you probably would have noticed things were a bit disjointed in the the next chapter on FF. So, here we go! Two in one day.
> 
> As per my note above, I use music every once a while in this story to pay a little homage to the songs that I either liked or I think deserved even more recognition. This particular chapter had "Meteor" because of Heine. I used the written romaji version of the Japanese for reading purposes and didn't use the English translation because I absolutely love the Japanese version. 
> 
> As for this chapter itself, again I did a big rewrite, probably close to 80% or so. I could have done much more with the ending sections, but I was running out of a bit of steam. Perhaps on the next go around. 
> 
> Thanks again for stopping by and I'll see you in the next chapter!
> 
> Strata


	18. Persistent Pilots, Dictator Dads, and Genetic Geniuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse and Heine report to Councilman Zala about what had happened and about what to do next.

** Persistent Pilots, Dictator Dads, and Genetic Geniuses **

Council member Patrick Zala was exactly as Eclipse thought he was going to be. When she and Heine had been ordered to talk to him personally, she had been surprised. Usually information went through twenty different people before getting to the “head dog.” Eclipse knew a little about his past on the Council and his role as Chairman of Defense was notable. Perhaps that was the reason they were talking to him and no one else in particular. Either that, or SIN-ED just meant that much to him.

The similarities between the older man and his son was clear, but Eclipse had the feeling Athrun actually looked a bit more like his mother. Perhaps as he got older that might change, but standing then in front of Councilman Zala’s desk, she struggled to imagine Athrun as such a stern man. No wrinkles were on his face, but it appeared worn and by the look in his eyes, he seemed on the verge of a headache. His darker brown hair was cut short, and greying at the roots, she noticed.

Probably the stress of the job.

“Is this the information here?” he asked lightly, holding up the folder in his hand. His voice had a melodious tone to it, appealing in some ways, however, there was still a commanding edge. 

_A dictator,_ Eclipse decided. _That’s what he sounds like._ Although, she’d never say it aloud. “Yes, sir,” she replied instead, her eyes resting on the picture frame sitting on his desk as Zala scanned the material. It was a picture of Athrun and his mother, the redhead deducted, noticing the matching hair color and eyes.

It was a dark but cold office, Eclipse realized, noticing that her partner had struggled to cover a yawn. Other than the desk they were currently standing in front of, and the personal photo nearby, there didn’t seem to be any other personal touches made to the office. The walls looked bare and plain, but perhaps that was for logistics more than personal taste. No doubt, large televisions were a remote away for some video conference or Council meeting.

Her feet shifted impatiently as he read. They had both been awake for nearing 26 hours at that point and her mind was struggling to focus. She kept mentally kicking herself, however, knowing that any sort of lapse, especially in front of this particular gentleman, could me trouble for her later on.

Zala took another few minutes or so to finish going through the material before he set the papers down on the desk. “So, you talked to them directly?”

“Yes, sir,” both replied simultaneously.

“And why didn’t they kill you? Or why did they bother telling you all this information and let you escape unscathed?” He leaned slightly to his right, his head falling to rest on his upraise hand. His stare was intense, Eclipse noticed, and a shiver went down her spine.

Or maybe it was just the chill in the room.

“Because I know them personally, sir,” Eclipse admitted, taking a moment before speaking up. She had hesitated sharing the information but there was no way it would be kept secret for long and despite her easy lie to the GINN pilot earlier, she couldn’t justify lying to the Councilman. Especially not to the scale that lie would have been.

“So, it’s true? These are the ones who fled Januarias 4?”

“Yes, sir, I can confirm that.”

“So, you’re close with this powerful band of renegades then?”

“Only two of them, sir.”

“Only two?”

She nodded.

“Mr. Westenfluss, how much importance do these two hold in this group, SIN-ED?”

Eclipse felt Heine tense and pause at her side. Was he trying to protect them for her sake? That seemed like career suicide and she almost spoke up for him, but he found his voice.

“They have pretty big roles, sir.”

“ _How_ important?” 

“From what I could discern, many of the members look up to them, but I’m not aware of their power structure, sir.”

Heine was right, Eclipse knew. FS hadn’t given any indication he was in charge though based on the mannerisms of those around him, it wasn’t a stretch to deduce as such.

“Well, if what you say here is true, we’re going to have to monitor them at least, but it might even go beyond that.”

“Beyond, sir?” Heine asked.

“According to your report, they plan on going after our military first and then face-off against the Earth Forces. If that happens, we may lose some prominent leaders in the military and that we can’t afford. Since they are a small bunch, I’m hoping to dispose of them quietly before they get a chance to start this plan.”

 _Dispose?_ Eclipse heard the word, but found it hard to digest. If he said the group was so small, why was he going to worry about them? Did Zala think they were powerful despite the numbers? If that was the case, how did he plan on “disposing of them quietly?” She didn’t think ZAFT could afford to send a team after them.

“I’m sorry to be speaking so bluntly about this since you have a relationship with them, Lunar Eclipse, but please understand how serious this is. Not only are we going to have the Earth Forces to contend with, but these rebels too and we have no eyes on their operation at the moment. At least with the Earth Forces we have ways to monitor them and act before they do.”

“I do understand, sir,” the redhead said, hiding her own surprise. He might be right, but “disposal?” 

Kill Stray and FS?

Her breath quickened and Heine must have noticed because she saw him shift uncomfortably. Sure, it had always been a possibility, but she didn’t think they were big enough for ZAFT to care. Or maybe Zala was trying to cover up something? Did he just not want these ex-ZAFT personnel galivanting around and possibly sharing secrets? Was it really that simple? Tying up loose ends?

She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from scowling. This Councilman had helped approve the program and made most of SIN-ED the way they were. Now, it looked as if he was just going to cut his losses and pretend that program had never even existed.

 _But wait,_ she thought, releasing her bottom lip when she tasted blood on the tip of her tongue. _Maybe I can still keep them alive._

“Did you have any ideas who to give the job to, sir?” she asked aloud, receiving a quizzical look from Heine. Zala paused before answering and leaned back in his chair.

She studied him carefully. He was probably very aware of the skillset her and her comrades had, but unless he wanted to try and retrain a team on who the individuals in SIN-ED were and how to deal with them, only to, despite going through all of that, _still_ have the probability that the team would lose to SIN-ED—well, Eclipse was betting that she looked like a pretty good option.

“No, I don’t have anyone in mind right now. Why, do you ask?”

“I’d like to do it, sir.”

The air seemed to thicken and it felt as if Heine had gone completely still. Based on how much the singer knew about the situation, the idea of her jumping up to be the personal grim reaper for her old friends might have seen heartless. Still, whether he understood her motives or not, she had to try.

It was her only chance.

“Based on everything I know, why should I trust you?” Zala asked, his eyes narrow.

“I know them—can anticipate what they’re thinking, sir. You said so yourself, you need eyes on them and who better than someone who trained with them? Knowing them as I do, they’re going to try and do things on a small scale. We were trained to run in small combat groups, so they will probably organize in much the same fashion. It would be suicide to attack an army with a large force, so they’ll probably act more like terrorists than an army.” Eclipse paused as she thought, looking to the side and catching Heine’s concerned look. She shook her head quickly, however, not want him to deter her. “They’ll probably have smaller pockets of teams spread throughout space and the Earth based on the fact that most of SIN-ED was previously part of the Earth Alliance.”

Zala took a moment to think it over and Eclipse felt her heart race. She knew she had to sell herself for this mission somehow, but while her past association with them looked like a weakness, she knew it had to be viewed to be in her favor.

“They’re insane, sir,” she added. “Who else do you have that is trained to understand that insanity?”

“I’m aware of your skillset, Lunar Eclipse, but you have yet to convince me that I should trust you. You said so yourself, you know them.”

“I only know two, sir. The others mean nothing to me.”

“But two is still too big of a number. If Mr. Westenfluss is right and they play a large role, they will be your prime target.”

“That has yet to be decided, sir. There is no proof.”

“And what will you do when you get proof? Can you kill them?”

“I will kill them, sir.” To her credit, she didn’t hesitate and based on the long stare she received from the Councilman and the affirmation he gave a moment later, she had been believable. Though, deep down, she knew she _would_ kill them. If they had truly gone insane, there was just no other option.

“I will not send you out alone.”

Eclipse opened her mouth to argue, but Heine spoke up first, surprising both her and himself, it seemed. “I’ll help.”

“No,” Eclipse countered. “I won’t be detected if I’m by myself and infiltration will be easier too.”

“Two-person missions have a higher success rate,” Heine said simply. Whether or not that statistic held, Eclipse didn’t know, but she found herself getting increasingly angry with him. Despite everything, she realized, she _didn’t_ want him dead.

And working with her might surely ensure that grisly future.

Zala said nothing for a moment, tapping his chin thoughtfully before leaning forward on his desk, his hands clasped in front of him. "Mr. Westenfluss will help you, but only on your terms, Lunar Eclipse.”

“But sir!” Heine cried, clearly appalled by his decision.

“I don’t appreciate the outburst, Mr. Westenfluss. Lunar Eclipse has provided some interesting reasoning and I have to agree. From this moment on, Lunar Eclipse is officially assigned to and in charge of taking out the organization called SIN-ED.” Heine gave a quiet curse and looked away. Zala frowned, but didn’t otherwise scold the pilot and nodded. “Now, as far as I’m concerned, this matter has been decided. You are both dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir,” the redhead said before saluting and exiting the room. Heine did the same and followed quickly after her, a small but evident frown on his fair face.

Zala silently watched them go. This girl’s appearance had posed a few interesting developments. He hadn’t recognized her at first, but as soon as he read her profile he knew he struck gold. Hiding a smile, he reached over and pressed down the intercom button. 

“Yes, sir?” asked the female soldier on the other end.

“I need to speak to Gilbert Durandal.”

* * *

“Are you _insane_?” Heine yelled as soon as he caught up with Eclipse. They hadn’t gotten far from the office, but Heine wasn’t about to waste any time in settling matters.

“Probably,” she responded and her tone had pissed him off even more.

“That’s not what I mean.” He grabbed her arm when she tried walking away further, spinning her to look at him. “Doing this alone is _suicide._ Let me help you.”

“No.”

He scowled and felt his hand tighten around her arm, but if he was hurting her, she didn’t show it. “ _Why_ , Eclipse?”

“You come, you’ll die, and in the end, I’ll end up on my own anyway.” She shrugged.

“You don’t trust me? You don’t trust my skills?”

“I doubt your emotions. Against SIN-ED they’ll get you killed.”

“Emotions aren’t a weakness,” Heine spat. “I hate that you keep insisting otherwise.”

“Not against humans, but we’re not humans remember?”

He growled again, his frustration clear. “They aren’t; you are.”

“And this is where _you_ piss me off, Heine.” She finally pulled her arm from his grip and squared up to him. “I have to _be_ them in order to stop them. _How_ is that not obvious? You’ve known me for, what, a grand total of a day. How can you even begin to think you know me?”

“Despite what you are led to believe, you are easy to read.” He crossed his arms across his chest and stared at her hard, looking more like a scolding older brother than the singing soldier she had come to know him as. Her own brother came to her mind then, but her anger pushed his image aside.

“You want everyone to believe you’re just some mindless weapon, but do you even remember the way you acted when you saw those two old friends of yours? Well, I do and—trust me—that was no emotionless machine. The person that I saw in that hotel could _never_ take on SIN-ED according to your standards. You laughed, you had hope, you—”

“Then I’ll turn it off. I know I can do that much.”

He rolled his eyes. “ _You_ are going to turn off your affections for _them_?”

“I _have_ to!” she shrieked, surprising even him with her outburst. “You think anyone else can do this? Can you name someone you want to send to slaughter, Heine? If I was trained for this and I’m ordered to do it then I’m going to _fuckin’_ well do it.”

Heine found himself sighing and shaking his head, pacing as his mind reeled. He was so angry, so confused, and so worried all at the same time. Who was this soldier? Why did she insist so much she was something she wasn’t?

And why did it bother him?

“So, just like that, you accept the mission to kill your friends.”

“I need to stop them, yes.”

“No more thoughts on it—nothing?” Eclipse’s anger ebbed slightly but she was still being stubborn. Heine could see it on her face, and he frowned, trying not to let it rile him up again.

“Tell me, did you see what my profile said?”

“What do you mean?”

“Simple question, Heine. I know you saw parts of it when I was upset in the colony and just now it was clearly laid out on the Councilman’s desk. What did you see?”

He sighed and looked down, shaking his head. “Eclipse, honestly, I didn’t see—” There was a click and his head shot back up, the only thing in his line of vision being the barrel of a gun. His heart skipped at the sight and his body almost reacted instinctively, but he had to stop himself. He looked at her instead, his eyes following the barrel backwards towards her face.

“I’m certain you saw the word written in all CAPs on my profile—it’s hard to miss. Do you remember it now? Now that I have your attention?” He frowned, but she continued. “Berserker. You know what they are? They are warriors bred for fighting, in other words, they are weapons. That is what I was named on Januarias 4, Heine, and that is what I am.”

“Do you _honestly_ believe that?”

“As much as you think you ‘know me,’ you don’t know what I’ve been through or have done. Do I honestly believe what’s in my file? Yes, frankly, I do.” Her eyes narrowed and Heine took a breath to steady himself.

“Eclipse—”

“I could pull this trigger. It wouldn’t matter that we just went on a mission together or the experiences we shared. If I was given the command, I’d shoot. I can turn off my ‘humanity’ just like that. You think that’s normal?”

Heine was already shaking his head before she finished. “No you—”

Bang.

Well, click.

Heine’s breath stopped when he heard the sound. He didn’t know whether to be relieved the gun hadn’t been loaded or scared because she didn’t hesitate to try and kill him. “See,” he began, “I knew you couldn’t do it.”

“I wasn’t given an order,” Eclipse stated simply.

At first Heine scoffed about it, refusing to believe her, but her eyes gave her away. The cold reality was there. “Please, I only want to help.”

“No.”

“Stop trying to _convince_ yourself you’re no better than them!”

“Enough, Heine. I don’t want to see you get hurt because of something I couldn’t prevent.” She sighed and lowered the gun, reaching around her back to put it in the holster. “Thank you for worrying about me, but there really is no need. If you make it through this war alive, then I’d say it’s because of fate. But if we meet again it will be because of luck.” She turned then and walked away down the hall. 

Heine didn’t follow.

He was still fuming even after her footsteps had faded, but he knew he had said as much as he could and the rest was up to her. If she did need him, he liked to think that she would contact him, if only because Councilman Zala had told her to. _It’s enough for now,_ he thought, his mouth still in a snarl, but even that emotion was short lived. He was suddenly tired; tired of her stubbornness, tired of his, and even more tired of the fact that he was so damn bothered by it all. “You’re wrong, y’know?” he began, talking into the empty hall. “If I survive this war, it’s luck; if we meet again, it’s fate. And I have a tendency to choose my own fate.”

* * *

It had been about an hour after the meeting with Eclipse and Heine before Patrick Zala got in touch with the genetic scientist, Gilbert Durandal. The latter had been in the PLANT for a convention and after a few brief words over the phone, he had agreed to speak to Zala in his office.

Zala put down the paperwork he was working on when the younger gentleman was ushered in, walking around his desk to grasp his hand. “Ah, Gilbert, thank you for speaking to me on such short notice.”

“Of course, no problem at all. It’s nice to see you again, Patrick. I trust you and your son are doing well?”

“Yes, we are doing quite well, thank you.” He motioned for Durandal to sit in the seat across from his desk and walked around to sit across from him.

The two of them had been acquainted with each other for the past few years, having been running in the same social circles. They didn’t often speak to each other on a professional level, so this particular meeting was rare, but Zala had been aware of Durandal’s work and research for some time.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Durandal responded in kind, unbuttoning his suit jacket before taking the seat offered. He had longer, black hair with stunning orange eyes that went nicely with his pressed shirt, blue tie, and black business pants. Typically, there was a labcoat over his attire, but he had a speech at the convention that morning and had been fielding questions in a forum just before he received the call from the Councilman.

“As I was saying over the phone,” Zala began once they were both settled, “there’s some information here I’d like you to look at.” He slid the closed folder on his desk across to Durandal, leaning back and observing the younger scientist as he flipped through the pages.

“Would you mind telling me what I’m supposed to be looking at?”

“I believe you were on one of the teams monitoring the progress of that experimental program the Council approved about a year ago. The one on Januarias 4.”

“The one created in reaction to the information found about the Earth Forces facilities, you mean?” Zala nodded and Durandal mimicked the gesture. “Yes, I had been getting regular updates until about a month ago, but no one has been telling me what went wrong.”

“The short answer is that the trainees rebelled, the staff were killed, and most of the facility records destroyed. The clean-up team has only just finished going through everything and the files we _do_ have contain some information on progress reports, but nothing encouraging, I’m afraid.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Zala turned slightly in his chair and crossed one leg over the other, and sighed. “While things looked promising at the beginning, most of the trainees either plateaued or were on the verge of a breakdown.”

“Were the drugs not being administered correctly?” Durandal looked down at the paperwork in his hands again, but was paying more attention to Zala’s words than the ones printed on the pages.

“From what we can tell, the drugs were only given to a select few and those were disposed of for various reasons about six months in. Ironically, Naturals might have more of an affinity for that type of thing than Coordinators.”

Durandal frowned and looked at Zala briefly, but didn’t say anything. Most likely there was something wrong with the regimen, but he wasn’t about to say as much.

“According to those records, while the trainees have very impressive skillsets, arguably it was all a failure.”

Durandal’s frown deepened. “Based on my regular reports, it was all going according to plan. Do you think they were fudging the data?”

Zala shrugged. “I don’t know much about the data, but based on this profile I was given today, we seem to have a successful candidate after all.”

“But what good is that if they all rebelled?”

“Nope, we still have one under our control.”

“What do you mean?”

Zala shifted again, leaning forward to the desk and pointing to the paperwork in Durandal’s hands. “Five were sent out on missions before the mutiny took place. Two were killed, two we lost contact with and then there was that one, Lunar Eclipse. As fate would have it, she recently came in contact with her former comrades from Januarias 4 and has received intelligence concerning their plans.”

“So, you’re telling me one experimental soldier—her.” He pointed to an updated photo of Eclipse. “She managed to survive the program and get valuable information from a group of fellow renegades?”

Zala nodded. “She also volunteered to be the one to dispose of them.”

“Hold on here,” Durandal held up a hand to accent his point. “You’re just going to let her go? The only positive remnant from the program? Surely she’ll join them based on camaraderie alone.”

“You’re right in that it’s a bit risky, but you must know she _did_ run into them and yet came back to ZAFT. I think we have a tighter hold on her than we had on the others whether that is based in sanity or loyalty, I don’t know. Either way,” he continued, folding his hands in front of him on the desk. “I don’t imagine this group will cause us much trouble, but I don’t just want our dirty laundry on display either.”

“So, she’s gonna clean up the mess? Again, the _only_ positive result from the experiment? She should be studied, monitored—”

“Look at the bottom of the profile and I think you’ll see why it might be better to let her develop in her own way.”

Durandal did as suggested and skimmed through the material. Nothing stood out of the ordinary, so why Zala was being so reckless seemed beyond him. He was about to say as much when his eyes did, indeed, grow wide with surprise. “They do exist,” he muttered quietly, scanning the other pages as well. He knew the probability of Berserkers existing was low, but ever since he read the data from the Earth Forces, he began getting curious. _So, there’s one in this age,_ he thought with a small smile. “I didn’t know about any of this.”

“I didn’t think you did. It seems Vindur kept the secret to himself.”

“Maybe not to himself because he had to get this drug _Muscimol_ from somewhere.”

“It wasn’t from your team then? Have you heard of it?”

“No, I haven’t,” Durandal admitted. “As far as I know, no one specializing in this area has come up with it.”

“You’re thinking he got it from somewhere else then?”

“He had to have. All prescriptions sent to that facility had to be approved by me first.”

“Any ideas on where he got it and why?” Zala asked, leaning forward on his desk, probably expecting a list of names and places, but as soon as Durandal shook his head, the Councilman sighed. “I’ll have someone look deeper into the situation then. No doubt this is why your reports were so different.” Leaning back, he tapped his finger anxiously on the desk. “I don’t think I need to tell you about how important this information is, Gilbert. If this gets out…”

“I understand very well, Patrick. This might be our leg-up on the Earth Alliance.”

A long silence passed between the two. Durandal looked at the profile again and felt his heart race. If Vindur’s suspicions were true, they had struck gold. He didn’t trust the former captain, however, knowing he had known very little about the scientific world. He clearly knew folklore though, Durandal had to admit, and that was enough for now.

“We’ll need confirmation,” Durandal said to Zala. “I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet without proof.”

“You’ll need a blood sample then?”

“I’m sure that should be good enough. I can’t just keep her in the lab for studies because we need her skills on the line, but if further confirmation is needed…”

“I’ll give her to you, no questions asked.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, I’d like your opinion on the rebels. They seemed to have formed a group called SIN-ED. What do you make of them?”

The younger man smiled and offered a small chuckle. “Shouldn’t you be asking the Council’s opinion on the matter and not mine? I’m only a scientist with a passion for genetics.”

“Yes, but you had been a part of the program and have been to your share of Council meetings. What do think?” They slipped into a comfortable silence, Zala seeming to give him a moment to formulate an opinion.

 _I think they’re moving in the right direction,_ Durandal thought, not voicing his outlook right away. _However, killing people probably isn’t the way to go. What if we changed—_ Zala started tapping his finger again and the younger man glanced up at him, seeing the Councilman looking absently at the photo on his desk. Sighing, Durandal decided to save that particular thinking for later when he had more time to develop his idea. “I think they’re insane and have to be stopped, but how is going to be the problem. As we discussed, sending in Lunar Eclipse alone is a good idea, but risky. Can we give her some back-up?”

“We have very limited options at the moment, but there are a couple we can send in if needed. I’m just not certain how long they’d survive.”

Durandal nodded slowly and sighed, standing and closing the folder before putting it back on the desk. “Can we trust her though?”

“Do we have a choice?”

“I suppose not.”

The intercom buzzed on the Councilman’s desk and he held up a hand to tell his guest to wait. “Yes?” Zala asked. 

“Sir, there’s some urgent news about Lacus Clyne.”

* * *

Eclipse had barely opened the door to her room on the _Vesalius_ when the news about the famed pop star reached the ship. Two new mechanics were muttering about Lacus on their way to the hangar, sounding rather flustered about the story. Either they were fans or they had remembered her fiancé was a colleague. 

The redhead had to admit she found the story puzzling, at least from the bits she had heard. Why would a civilian ship be attacked? And if it was, by whom? 

Eclipse sighed before setting her things down on the bed and following the gossipers’ path to the hangar. She wanted to work on her new mobile suit, seeing as it was brought in before she had arrived back on the ship. It wasn’t an impressive piece of machinery she knew, at least not compared to the prototype weapons, but thanks to some information from the Blitz, the Mirage Colloid system was added to her mobile suit’s itinerary. 

Perhaps the higher-ups thought she might be going on some stealth missions. 

It was a GINN in every respect, right down to the assortment of weaponry, but Eclipse was just happy to have a suit. Now she wouldn’t be left behind. 

Passing two mechanics, she boarded the lift and glided up to the cockpit, taking a seat. _Hm, smells like new mobile suit,_ she thought with a smile, rubbing her hands across the levers and buttons. _And it’s mine._ After taking a moment to let everything sink in, she pulled down the keyboard and switched the screen to the GINNs controls and mechanisms. Absently, she bumped her left arm and cringed. The area where some nurses had taken a blood sample was still sore, but it was such a minor nuisance she forgot about it the moment she cracked her knuckles and began making alterations. 

Eclipse wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, only that she had. Neither was she sure when she woke up, she just did. _Damnit, what time is it?_ she thought and pushed the keyboard out of the way. It was only then she had remembered the many hours she had been awake and she frowned, her excitement about the suit even trumping her need for sleep. The GINN’s screen was black, almost as if the machine shut itself off as she slept, so she decided to leave it, knowing she would get back to it after she had a proper amount of rest. She made her way down to the locker room and passed her fellow redcoat. _Athrun?_

He noticed her pass by and his surprise must have mimicked her own. He looked to be headed to the Aegis and that made her heart jump for a moment. Glancing back at her suit, she wondered if she actually did need to finish the calibrations. The _Vesalius_ hadn’t been scheduled to leave for another day yet, so why was he back so soon? 

“Do we have new orders, sir? I thought departure wasn’t for another day or so.” 

“You haven’t heard?” 

“Heard?"

“About Lacus Clyne.” 

“Oh.” She paused, scanning his face for some kind of indication of how to proceed next. She wanted nothing more than to flee in that moment, knowing personal anything, including conversations, was not her forte. “Yes, I heard the news, sir. I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah…” His voice trailed off as he turned to look at the Aegis again. “The _Vesalius_ has been tasked with finding her and we leave in an hour. Two more ships have been assigned to Commander Le Creuset’s command. You must have missed the briefing.” 

Eclipse blinked, thinking back on her most recent memories and frowning. “How long was I out?” she muttered quietly, but shook her head when he looked at her suspiciously. 

“Well, I’m just gonna…” He trailed off again and jutted his thumb back at the Aegis. 

“Aren’t you worried, sir?” Eclipse asked suddenly, surprising even herself with the question. Either she was tired, or Heine had softened her a little bit and that thought made her frown. 

“Huh?” 

“About your fiancé.” 

“Very, actually, but I admit I didn’t think you’d be the one to ask me about her.” He shrugged. “I figured I’d busy my mind with the Aegis, but, honestly, I don’t know what’s left to do. You _are_ very thorough.” 

Eclipse shrugged, as if it was the most natural thing he could say. “Just doing my job, sir.” 

“Stop it with the ‘sir,’ would ya? It makes me nervous.” 

“I don’t think—” 

“That’s an order.” 

“Ah,” she said, her lips actually curling up into a smile. Perhaps Heine had been right and she was easy to read. “Fine, I can’t disobey an order.” 

“Good,” was all he said before he turned and boarded the lift to the Aegis and it wasn’t until he disappeared into the cockpit that she finally turned and began making her way back to her own unit. If they were leaving in an hour, she needed to get her suit up and running. That meant no nap and making more of an effort to stay awake during the process. 

Sighing, she brought the keyboard down once again and began her adjustments. Her attention would often pivot over to the Aegis and its pilot and it wasn’t until she caught on to what her subconscious had been up to that she frowned and cursed quietly. 

No, she refused to have Heine be right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, thanks for stopping by. Another complete rewrite here. Have you ever had one of those old chapters that wakes you up at night in a cold sweat because you know it's all wrong, but just can't bring yourself to edit it? Yeah, that was this chapter for me. I really reeled in both Heine's and Eclipse's personalities here, making them a bit more consistent with the later chapters. That was a relief in and of itself. There is meant to be an obvious character shift after she sees Stray and FS again, but while I didn't have a complete handle on her before, I know Eclipse a bit better now and could filter through all of the... blegh....
> 
> Another Destiny introduction here by bringing in Durandal. He plays such a big role in Destiny and there are some moments when his personality and thinking process just kinda comes out of no where. My idea was the help give him more framework throughout my series. We'll see if I succeed. I'm sure I can rant with many of you on the story line, personalities, etc. of Destiny, and me writing this series kinda has a lot to do with that. Eager to twist the worlds more carefully together.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to seeing you again in the next one. Thanks for sticking with me and I'm always happy to hear from ya.
> 
> Strata


	19. Awkward Silences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lacus Clyne is missing and the Vesalius is tasked with finding her. Add in a worried fiance, an unsympathetic main character, a rather too sympathetic Strike pilot, and—well—what could go wrong?

**Awkward Silences**

_You’re out there somewhere_ , Athrun thought as he stared out into the hangar. _I know I’ll see you again._ If anyone knew the circumstances and the turmoil he was going though, he or she may wonder whether this pilot was talking about his fiancé or of his friend. Debating his words also, not even Athrun was sure. It was originally meant for Lacus, but after some thought, he realized it could be meant for Kira too. He sighed.

Eclipse looked up at the redcoat in the observation deck above the hangar. He had abandoned any adjustments about a half hour ago and seemed to be lost in his own thoughts ever since. Judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t any closer to answering the questions he had been asking when he began his daydreaming and she couldn’t help but sympathize. _What am I supposed to do about FS and Stray?_

She had ended up drifting off to sleep again as she was working and found herself jostled awake when the _Vesalius_ had officially taken off. She had cursed loudly then and had been forced to bring on some reinforcements to help her finish setting up her suit. Before they could begin any meaningful work at the time, Le Creuset had called her to his office and she found herself abandoning her suit once again before anything was finished.

He had explained that he knew about her new assignment and had informed her that he had no intention of hindering those efforts. “This ship will serve more as your temporary residence than a home base. Since your orders were given from the Councilman Zala himself, I have no authority to change them.” He then went on explaining how she was going to get valid information—through help at headquarters and her own investigating—and what her role was to be on the ship. She was now a pilot first and foremost, but since there were new mechanics aboard—and the new head mechanic had yet to be introduced—he wanted her to guide them through protocol and repairs when it concerned the prototypes and also to help out as needed on the floor. Not the command she had been hoping for, to say the least, and she couldn’t help but wonder if her fellow redcoats had been given similar tasks, but orders were orders.

Only five hours had passed since that particular meeting and almost three days since she had first left for the L4 colony cluster. Suppressing a yawn, she kicked off to land on the hangar floor, looking at the clipboard and to-do list that was handed to her. Most of the repairs and supplying had been done while they were docked, but since they had left earlier than planned, most of duties were only half done. Half of the mechanics were already organizing the supplies and that meant she was left babysitting the new mechanics. She yawned again and nodded when the mechanic said… something. Shaking her head, she pulled the small towel from the pocket of her borrowed mechanic suit and decided against worrying about it. Turning, she looked over to see how the adjustments for the other suits in the hangar were progressing. She caught sight of Athrun in the observation room once more and sighed.

He always looked troubled about something.

“Hey, uh, Lunar Eclipse,” one of the new pilots shouted as he headed in her direction, pulling her back to her immediate problems. There were two new greencoated pilots aboard, this guy and his gangly partner next to him. Honestly, she didn’t know their names and never bothered to ask, deciding to tell them apart by their hair colors. The one who yelled had short, dark brown hair while the other newbie had short, light brown hair.

“Just Eclipse is fine, sir,” she said, too tired to correct her wrong use of “sir.” Technically, she was above them in rank, but it just seemed to take too much energy to correct them.

“We’d like you to check out our GINNs.”

“Our?”

“Yes, ‘our.’ We tried to ask someone else, but they said to come directly to you,” the light brown pilot said.

“The other mechanics you mean?” They nodded and Eclipse sighed. “Do either of you know when Officer Carter’s replacement will be done on the bridge?” They turned to each other first before returning to her with a shrug. Most likely, they hadn’t even known who Carter was. She closed her eyes as she felt a headache boiling.

“How bad is the problem?” she asked aloud.

“We just need a diagnostic test,” the light brown replied.

“And you two can’t do it yourselves?”

“It’s not our responsibility,” dark brown said.

“But those are your mobile suits and I know you’re trained for it.” They looked like they were going to respond, but hesitated. Obviously, they knew there was some mechanical work they were supposed to do personally, but in what was probably a desperate move to get out of doing the task, they went to find a mechanic. She frowned.

“You have a lot of guts asking a redcoat to do your job.”

Eclipse looked to her right to see Athrun coming towards them, the look on his face rather refreshing after having witness him brooding for the good part of an hour. It wasn’t a kind look to the new pilots however based on the uneasy glance that passed between the two after they had saluted. Athrun caught himself on Eclipse’s shoulder and she tensed, but his touch didn’t linger for long, his feet settling comfortably on the hangar floor.

“If you don’t know how to do something, ask. No one around here has the time to do your jobs on top of their own.” He looked at each in turn, folding his arms over his chest. “I also advise you take more time memorizing the personnel aboard this ship before you go around giving orders.”

“Sir!” They both saluted again, their eyes shifting briefly over to Eclipse and her mechanic outfit.

“Good.” He nodded back over towards their suits. “I’ll show you how to do it. Meet you there in a moment.”

“Thank you, sir.” Another salute and the two were gone.

“And you,” he began, spinning towards the face of a very unamused Eclipse and forgetting what he was about to scold her for. He hesitated before continuing, noting her look, and his eyebrow arched instead. “What?”

“I suppose you found that amusing.”

“Amusing?”

“I have been tasked with supervising and helping out with updates and repairs until the new Head returns from his meeting.” She flicked a hand over towards the greencoats now staring anxiously at the console in front of their GINNs. “The mechanics I’m supposed to be training are meant to help them, not you.”

Athrun shrugged. “I guess we’ll just share the responsibility for a bit then. I could use a distraction.” Eclipse’s face was still unamused and Athrun found himself surprised yet again. “What?”

“Fine, if you want to help, you can show the mechanics at the same time as the pilots.”

“Okay, works for me.” He shrugged, turning to look at the GINNs and their unfortunate pilots. “There’s no harm in sharing the burden once in a while, you know.”

Eclipse snorted. “That’s cute coming from you.”

Athrun felt the anger rise from his stomach and he whirled on her in that moment to argue, yell, or just to tell her it was none of her business, but instead they got caught in a stare, her eyes saying she understood more than Athrun had been letting on. It was an uncomfortable feeling, he realized, and even more so knowing that this particular redhead wasn’t one to hold back. Whether she knew any facts, he didn’t know, but his internal battling might not had been as hidden as he had previously been leading himself to believe. Eventually, his anger did dissipate, but not before he snarled out his own response. “You know nothing about it.”

Her shoulders shifted in a shrug he didn’t stay around to see end, kicking off towards the newbies waiting for him and the teaching opportunity he had blindly plowed into.

* * *

“What’s the matter?” Le Creuset asked as he glided over to Captain Ades’s seat, stopping himself near the captain’s right shoulder. The commander had been going over more details concerning Eclipse’s new assignment and despite being happy to have a distraction, trying to figure out SIN-ED was giving him a huge headache. Absorbing new information and looking at it rationally was probably a forte of that particular commander, but even digesting SIN-ED’s complicated history was eluding him at that moment.

Ades glanced at the commander then, his face betraying the stoic appearance he had been upholding since they were tasked with trying to find Lacus. “We think they’re vessels of the Earth Forces,” he responded, nodding towards the screen in front of him. “What are they doing out here?”

Le Creuset hesitated a moment before pushing off to the briefing table behind the seat. This was an interesting development. “If the ‘Legged Ship’ was journeying from Artemis to the moon’s Earth Forces Headquarters, what would they do?”

Ades joined him a moment later and stared down at the map as well, lacing his hands behind his back. “So those navel vessels, they’re waiting there to supply, or, perhaps, escort?”

“They haven’t detected our presence yet, have they?” The captain shook his head. “Don’t lose sight of them. Follow them carefully.”

“Go after them?” Ades asked, appalled about the decision. They were charged with finding Lacus Clyne, not to keep an eye on suspicious Earth Alliance vessels. “But—”

“Of course, we will also continue our search for Miss Lacus Clyne. At the same time, though, we can’t lose this opportunity all because of one girl. I’d hate to be laughed at by historians of future generations.”

Ades still wasn’t convinced and glancing at the glimmer in his partner’s eyes only made the matter worse. If they stopped to have a battle with the Earth Forces, they could lose any distance they might have gained on Lacus’s captors, and she was, for the time being, their prime objective. 

But Le Creuset was right too, and he frowned.

It sucked being sandwiched between duty and intuition.

* * *

Athrun, Eclipse, and the two newbies were called to the bridge soon after the diagnostic tests were finished. With Athrun taking the lead, Eclipse was able to supervise the other tasks on her plate with little hindrance, even handing off the remainder of the to-do list to the new Carter, Officer Hahn. 

She ran into Athrun and the others again as she was heading back to her room to change and they shared a nod despite their rather tense exchange earlier. “I’ll let them know you’re on your way,” Athrun said and the three of them continued on towards the bridge. Eclipse changed quickly and joined everyone a few minutes later, saluting as she walked onto the bridge. The greencoats exchanged another shaky look between them, no doubt nervous about their behavior towards her before, and she couldn’t help but smirk as she took her place near the briefing table.

“This is the projected course of the enemy ships,” Captain Ades pointed out, drawing all attention to the map.

“It’s unfortunate the Laconi and Porto teams are joining us later than scheduled,” Le Creuset said. “Those vessels may be there to resupply the ‘Legged Ship.’ We certainly can’t ignore them.”

“Intercept them?” Athrun asked, drawing all attention to him. “But commander, we’ve been ordered to—”

“First and foremost, we’re soldiers, Athrun. Even if we were sent on a mission to search for Miss Clyne.”

Saying the redcoat didn’t look pleased was an understatement. Rarely did he show such emotions in front of the commander, but there was no masking the anger on his face. Eclipse debated stepping up and agreeing with his remark, but backed down despite the brief moment of loyalty. Le Creuset had been clear on their course of action and she wasn’t really sure there was anything more she could say on the matter.

“I want all of you to be ready in your mobile suits and wait for the order to launch,” Ades ordered, breaking the chilling silence that followed Athrun’s outburst. “As soon as we finish the job here, we’ll continue our search for Lacus Clyne. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sir!” the four pilots saluted and then three left the bridge. 

Athrun lingered behind, but what he had hoped to gain, Eclipse wasn’t sure. She hadn’t seen anyone so eager to openly disagree with their superiors and while a part of her found it curious, her rational brain knew it might end up costing him in the end.

* * *

Launching was a strange experience. The facility had some simulations concerning the system and how much force the pilot would feel, but they couldn’t stand up to the real thing. Eclipse wasn’t affected by the pressure to the extent she couldn’t fight when she hit open space, but she was breathless for a few moments.

Being the first one into battle, she had some time to assess the situation and her location. The commander had ordered the three GINNs to arm themselves with M66 “Canus,” or put simply, rocket launchers. One was given to each and even though the fire power was appealing, the limited movement was not. Eclipse would have rather done close-quarter fighting because that was where she excelled, but orders were orders and she was stuck using a weapon she wasn’t comfortable with. She was also given a 76mm machine gun for her right hand for long range fire, which would have to be enough. Taking a brief moment, she adjusted some of the controls in the OS, stabilizing the unit against the added output of the 76mm. It wasn’t generally a one-handed weapon so she would have to keep an eye on it and not overcompensate. The longer shield on her right forearm should help with added protection and after a few more quick calibration adjustments, she was ready.

The other GINNs launched behind her, followed by the Aegis. “Let’s go,” Athrun said over the communication line, causing a few battle cries to sound from the new pilots. Eclipse sighed and chased after the three of them, not as vocally excited about the battle as her partners. She couldn’t deny the fact that she was happy to be in the battle itself instead of watching it on a screen, but never enough to cheer. There were three vessels of the Earth Forces awaiting their demise and only four ZAFT mobile suits to do the work. The odds didn’t look promising and when the ships launched four mobile armors each, the odds took another plunge. 

The EA warships each had four boosters sticking out from the sides, forming an x-pattern, and a long nose. They were built for speed, Eclipse knew, but the moment she took their armaments for granted would be the moment she was dead. There was no escaping this particular battle and especially with these odds, she needed to be on her game. It didn’t matter if she was in a new mobile suit, or that she had unfamiliar weaponry, she couldn’t get overrun in her virgin battle. 

One of the mobile armors gunned in her direction, taking a shot and missing her, but not by a margin she would have called healthy. Her unit swerved to follow its course past her suit, shooting at it with the machine gun in her suit’s right hand. Her aim wasn’t perfect, but it was still good enough, clipping the thrusters of that particular mobile armor and sending it spinning awkwardly away from the battle. Two more took its place and she maneuvered backwards and out of the line of fire, doing her best to keep both the missiles and her suit out immediate harm. The last thing she wanted was a stray bullet to hit and blow her up. Taking aim again, she adjusted her shot and managed to get a clean salvo into the base of the mobile armor, not having the luxury of watching its unfortunate demise before the other mobile army charged at her.

It attempted to take her head on, which was an interesting decision, she knew. Angling herself, she brought her right arm up to block its salvo and thrusted forward to meet it, slamming her right forearm and shield onto the base of the armor and shoving it downward, using the sheer dominate power of her suit to throw it off balance. It deflected down and away to her left, a quick course direction and well-aimed salvo finishing off that particular enemy suit.

She checked her cameras quickly as she looked for more enemies, catching sight of the Aegis as it fired its Scylla at one of the warships. She debated backing him up, but his machine was far superior to hers and when she saw him finish off a mobile armor and another one she had merely put half a salvo into, she knew her options in that particular fight were limited.

It wasn’t until her sensors alerted her to a plasma blast headed in her direction that she turned and saw the “Legged Ship” enter the battle. She was able to evade in time, but one of her fellow GINNs was not so lucky. There was a loud scream over the intercom, that the redhead figured was the pilot himself, before the unit exploded. Cursing, she didn’t have time to dwell on it, two hostiles having launched from the ship itself. One she knew was another, advanced mobile armor called Zero and the other looked to be the famed Strike. She had studied up a bit on the machine and knew the Aegis could take it on speed, but the real question was, given the Strike’s current choice in weaponry, could Athrun take him on in close range.

“I’ll handle the Strike. You two finish the ships and that last mobile armor,” Athrun ordered, leaving no chance for debate.

Well, she would have to wait and see if Athrun’s skills could hold out.

“Yes, sir,” Eclipse said her Canus still attached to her left arm. Two of the smaller mobile armors did come at her then, trying to surround her machine, from what she gathered by their formation. While the plan may have worked, Eclipse recognized the maneuver and angled herself to shield against the bullets on her right side, and fired at the armor coming from her left. Her shots were gradually getting cleaner and she took out the mobile armor quickly, turning to intercept its partner. The second mobile suit stopped its approach when his partner died and she took her moment. She flew towards her enemy to cover the distance in a rush, bringing her shield up for protection and then thrusting her elbow down hard on the mobile armor when she got close, using the tip of that shield to break through the window and down into the cockpit.

She felt her lips curl up her face, and there was an obvious shift in her mind, as if something had shut off. Or had something “turned on?” She didn’t know what to make of the feeling, her heightened senses enjoying the scene unraveling slowly in front of her. Bracing her machine, she pulled the shield loose and released a short laugh at the damaged machine. Kicking it away, she put a salvo in it for good measure and basked at the destruction before turning to see what prey she could encounter next. _Now that’s more like it_ , she thought.

“Damnit!” her remaining comrade cursed, turning her towards his battle with the Zero. The greencoat was faring alright until the advanced mobile armor detached the gun barrels on its sides and started sending shots his way. Eclipse used the moment to her advantage, rounding on the Zero and closing the distance quickly before positioning herself under the craft. Her lips smirked again and she aimed her machine gun high on the Zero’s haul, firing an almost point-blank shot. It did damage the suit, but not a clean shot, unfortunately, the armor having slipped just to the right and away from her attack. She landed a couple good hits, but not enough to down it, the Zero instead fleeing back to the safety of the “Legged Ship” and its hangar. _That things a bit of a pisser._

“Thanks for that, how much damage did you sustain?” the greencoat asked, but Eclipse replied that she was fine, not remembering taking any damage at all.

“Battery’s running low though,” she did say after another moment and the greencoat confirmed he was in the same situation.

“Let’s see how much damage we can do to the EA ships while we still have some energy left.” 

Eclipse couldn’t agree more.

Athrun fared about as well as he had in his previous battles with his old friend. Shots were fired, hits struck, but nothing damaging or even fatal. If Eclipse was paying attention, she probably would’ve called it dancing again. Actually, that line echoed in the redcoat’s head, causing him more than once to lose his concentration. _Damn you_ , he thought, using another vague line that could address either his fellow pilot or his enemy. “Damn you!” he repeated, trying to cripple the Strike with an attack from his saber, but only managing to get it parried.

It was going to be a long fight if they kept matching blows, and not one that had a promising ending.

Eclipse did have the fortunate opportunity to watch a bit of the Aegis versus the Strike, but not enough to form a negative opinion, her attention drawn back to the EA ships and the GINNs coming dangerously close to their return fire. “I’ll finish off this sitting duck and you head for the last ship,” the greencoat suggested. “The Aegis already took out the thrusters, so they have nowhere to go. I shouldn’t need any help.”

“Roger that, I’ll take the scraps.”

Thrusting towards the remaining EA warship, she dodged its cannon fire easily, spinning through its defenses and down past one of its turrets, firing a shot and destroying it as she passed by on her way to the back boosters. The sky lit up to her right, her comrade apparently finishing his half of the plan and she smirked. Such a beautiful explosion. She stopped at the rear of the EA warship, turning and aiming her Canus before the rear defense systems could get a lock on her. She fired the shots and smirked again, watching the ship enter its final moments as she backed away from the blast.

Her machine alerted her to the _Vesalius_ ’s approach and entrance into the fray and she did a quick systems check.

“How much ammo do you have left?” the greencoat asked.

“I’m running low, but it might be enough to do some damage to that ship,” Eclipse responded, turning to the “Legged Ship,” and beginning the charge.

“Attention ZAFT forces! This is the warship _Archangel_ of the Earth Alliance Forces.”

The two GINNs halted just out of the “Legged Ship’s” firing range. _What the hell?_ she thought, and wasn’t the only on, she figured.

“Presently under the protective custody of this ship is PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Siegal Clyne’s daughter, Lacus Clyne. By chance we came across a lifepod with her inside. We brought her aboard as a humanitarian gesture. However, should you decide to attack this vessel, we shall consider that an abandonment of your responsibilities to protect Miss Clyne. We will then be forced to take matters into our own hands.”

 _Well, isn’t that ironic_ , Eclipse thought with a wry chuckle. _We end up finding the girl we’re looking for, on the ship we’ve been chasing, with the people we’re trying to kill. How… convenient._

“All units cease hostilities and return to the ship!” came the order through her comm line. “I repeat, all units return to the ship!”

* * *

 _Ridiculous_ , Eclipse thought, wiping her face with one hand while the other held onto her helmet. The two redcoats were summoned to the bridge as soon as they had docked, leaving no time to freshen up. Eclipse, however, had felt a sudden rush of weariness once she opened her cockpit door, but had forced herself to recover quickly, standing next to Athrun and waiting for their next orders.

Le Creuset sat thoughtfully in his seat, going through the recent events. Out of all the scenarios he anticipated, this one was honestly not in the repertoire.

Helplessness; it was a weird feeling.

“Even if we continue to pursue their ship, we couldn’t take any action with Miss Clyne aboard,” Captain Ades said, his face matching that of the commander’s. Well, the bright side was, they had found Lacus.

“And it’s likely their next move will be to rendezvous with the Lunar Fleet,” Le Creuset said, a slight annoyance sounding in his voice. Or was that worry? Eclipse held her breath. As soon as the commander got worried, they were on shaky ground indeed. 

“So that’s it? We sit back and watch them take Lacus to the fleet?” the captain asked.

“Where’s the _Gamow_? How soon is it able to get here?”

“It’s now at 6 mark 509 epsilon, zero comma three,” Ades answered, knowing Le Creuset would know the precise position he just named. “It’ll take at least seven hours before it joins us here.”

“The ‘Legged Ship’ will be linking up with the Lunar Fleet well before then.” The commander sighed, not liking any of his options. “This is a tough one.”

They were both dismissed after the discussion, leaving them with more questions than answers. Athrun was pissed, as he was expected to be, but for being someone who claimed to hide his emotions well, he was definitely slacking. Immediately after leaving the bridge, the two redcoats returned to the hangar, not following their fellow greencoat’s lead and grabbing some much-needed rest.

The time in between the bridge and the hangar was spent in an awkward silence. Eclipse glided a few feet behind her comrade, staring down at the ground and at the walls instead of striking up some kind of conversation. She had thought about bringing up some sort of tactics, but figuring his head was already a hamster carnival, she decided against it. He probably didn’t want to hear any of that from her anyway.

Athrun glided up to the Aegis once they opened the door and Eclipse to her GINN. Her eyes narrowed as she approached her machine, growing wide as she realized what she had been looking at was a damaged section of her suit. _When did I get hit? What hit me?_ she asked herself, seeing the gashes in the upper right arm and torso. She sat down in the cockpit and took a moment to try and remember, but still came up blank. The greencoat had said something about her machine getting damaged after she had attacked the Zero, but did it fire at her? Was she so involved with the fighting she didn’t even know she got hit? _Well, it has happened before_ , she thought, pulling down the keyboard and calling over a mechanic. _Back then it happened plenty of times—wait, does that mean I did it again? Without even realizing it? …Just like that?_

“You need my help, soldier?” the mechanic asked, steadying himself just outside the machine. 

“Y-yeah,” she said, deciding to focus on the repairs of her mobile suit instead of the repairs in her mind. 

The GINN, after all, made more sense.

* * *

Eclipse was in a very awkward situation. She had a lot of work yet to do on her GINN, but there was a very angry redcoat glaring at her outside of her machine.

She had been helping with the repairs when Athrun had come over to try and convince her to get some proper rest. She kept saying she wanted to finish the repairs first and he was surprisingly frustrated by that response. His frustration level had gotten so high, in fact, he slapped his hand against her machine just outside of the cockpit. “You’re _not_ a mechanic anymore. Now, I’ve been trying to convince you for the past 10 minutes to get some rest and, frankly, I don’t know why—you’re going to do your own thing anyway. The problem is, I need to rely on you now.” Her eyes quickly glanced away from her screen and over to him, a part of her finding his anger more interesting than intimidating. He said it himself, why did he care?

“There’s nothing more we can do—there’s nothing we’re _supposed_ to be doing, especially in the condition we are,” he continued. “If something should come up, we need to be ready.”

“Have you gotten her out of that cockpit yet?” a mechanic yelled nearby, Eclipse recognizing Officer Hahn’s voice.

“Working on it,” Athrun shouted back, angling for a moment to give the reply before turning back to her, unamused. “See? You’re making the whole hangar angry. Let’s just retire for now.”

Eclipse finished one more sequence on the OS before sighing, pushing it off to the side and stepping out of the cockpit. What he had said made sense, even if she didn’t want to admit it and leave her suit in the hands of those newbie mechanics. She didn’t have a choice, however, replying with a brief “Yes, sir,” which only annoyed Athrun further.

Officer Hahn gave them a wink and a salute as they passed, passing out orders as soon as they were clear. Eclipse sighed again, but said nothing more, following Athrun out of the hangar and navigating through the hallways towards their respective quarters.

“Did something happen back at the PLANTs?” Athrun asked, stopping a moment to let her catch up to him. She could still tell he was a bit annoyed by her, but the question seemed genuine enough.

“What do you mean?”

“You seem different. A more willing to speak out, I guess.”

“You think so?” Eclipse cocked her eyebrow, but when he didn’t answer right away, she shrugged. “A lot happened, yes, but I’m not so sure I’ve changed that much and seeing as this is probably the first time you and I have exchanged a proper conversation, you don’t have much history to go on. Maybe I’ve always been this pleasant?” He rolled his eyes and she gave a short laugh. “Why the sudden curiosity anyway? Or are you just trying to get your mind off your fiancé?”

“Well, that’s one way to change the subject,” Athrun muttered, but ended up sighing anyway. “Either you’re very observant or don’t like to share.”

“How about both?”

“That’s a dangerous combination.”

She shook her head with another wry laugh and shrugged again. “I think it’s just really hard for me to trust people, so when I do open up, it’s when I know they won’t stab me when my back’s turned.”

“In other words, you don’t trust me.”

“Depends on the situation. On a military level, I trust you with my life, or at least I’d better or this team rapport thing we’re supposed to be building won’t work. But on a personal level?” She paused and thought about it, but just ended up giving yet another shrug. “I haven’t quite decided.”

“Well then, what kind of people do you trust?”

“The insane kind, apparently.”

“Huh?” That answer took Athrun off guard and his flustered look actually made her smile slightly. Or maybe it was because the reality was just as funny.

“Never mind. Y’know, you’re giving me this whole speech about disclosure, when you open up less then I do.”

“Less?” His face was both unconvinced and unamused, but Eclipse had no retort. They stopped when they reached his quarters, the redhead’s roughly two doors further down.

“Perhaps my philosophy is just like yours,” he began pulling her attention back to him before she could head off to her own room and the blissful sleep waiting on the other side. “Either that or I’m a shy person by nature, but I’m not really sure yet.” He smiled lightly and Eclipse cocked an eyebrow, surprised by the gesture. “For the record though, I’m worried about Lacus and yes, I tried to start that conversation about yourself to get my mind off of it. Sometimes I wish you’d learn to play along.”

“Would it make you feel better if I said we’ll get her back?”

“No, not really.”

“Didn’t think so. What if I said, when we get her back, I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again?”

“That’s a pretty grand promise. How can you even have control over that?” The redhead shrugged and Athrun shook his head.

“Sorry, I thought I’d try something new.”

“New?”

“Yeah this ‘giving people hope’ thing.”

* * *

“Captain Ades, sir!” one of the bridge members shouted, breaking the captain’s conversation with Le Creuset. It was quite fortunate, actually, because they welcomed the interruption, being no closer to solving their current dilemma than they were four hours ago.

“Yes? What is it?”

“The ‘Legged Ship’ seems to have launched a mobile suit, sir.”

“Launched a mobile suit? What could they be thinking?” Ades wondered, turning to Le Creuset for some input, but the other man merely shrugged. “Level one battle stations! Tell the pilots to prepare at once to launch!”

“Yes, sir!”

It was a rude awakening, to say the least, but Eclipse and Athrun were at their mobile suits as soon as they could get there. The greencoated pilot was already in his GINN as the announcement began and they saluted each other before closing their cockpit doors. 

“What’s all this about?” he asked over the communication line.

“I’m not totally sure. I’ve been trying to contact the bridge, but they haven’t responded,” Athrun replied, finishing some minor adjustments. “I guess we’ll just have to sit back and see.”

“Attention ZAFT vessel! This is the pilot of the mobile suit, Strike. I am from the Earth Alliance vessel, _Archangel_. I am bringing Lacus Clyne to you. The _Nazca_ -class is to cut its engines. I will hand her over on the condition that we are met only by the pilot of the Aegis. If you do not meet those demands, I cannot guarantee her safety.”

 _A kid?_ Eclipse thought, listening to the broadcast with interest. _He doesn’t sound to be any older than us._

“Commander, allow me to go!” Athrun shouted over the line, startling the other GINN pilots.

“Their true intentions are still unknown,” Ades responded. “We haven’t even confirmed if Miss Clyne is inside it.”

“Commander!” Athrun persisted, but why Eclipse didn’t know. 

_Is this pilot the reason Athrun’s so confused right now?_ she thought.

“Alright then; you have permission,” Le Creuset finally answered, sending more then one person back on his heels. Even Ades sounded like he was going to argue, but on look from the commander ended the debate before anything more could be said.

“Thank you, I appreciate it.”

Eclipse sat back, as ordered, and watched Athrun walk himself into a possible trap. This was either way too easy, or about to get really ugly. She sighed and did some internal checks on her machine. If Athrun really did know the pilot of the Strike, things were about to get complicated. There was no way either side was just going to let this happen and then have everyone go along on their merry ways. They were both being juvenile and naïve. 

But now it was too late to stop him.

“Lunar Eclipse, as soon as the transfer is made, I want you to launch with me,” Le Creuset ordered over a separate frequency. “This is the perfect chance to get rid of that mobile suit and warship, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” the redhead responded, realizing that she had come to the same conclusion as the commander. 

That Strike pilot had no idea what he had just gotten himself into. His noble intentions were only going to get him and his comrades killed.

Le Creuset boarded his CGUE and sighed, strapping himself in. _Now we wait_ , he thought, leaning back and making himself comfortable. _Foolish pilot_.

* * *

“The Strike has lowered its weapon and is parting ways with the Aegis,” Ades announced, ordering the _Vesalius_ to start its engines in the same breath.

“Very good. Commander Le Creuset, launching in the CGUE.”

Eclipse launched just after and hit open space about the time Le Creuset was giving Athrun the order to return to the ship. She couldn’t help but sigh, realizing what his face must look like right now. Considering the circumstances, the Strike pilot probably didn’t look any better, wondering how such heroic actions could be punished so. 

So naïve.

“Lunar Eclipse, I’m leaving the Strike to you. The Zero seems to have launched as well, so I’m going to take out that fly.”

“Roger that, sir.”

“Ades, ready the main guns for—”

“Commander Rau Le Creuset! Stop this at once!” a higher voice commanded over the airways. She hadn’t recognized the voice, but after deducing it had come from the Aegis, she assumed it was Lacus Clyne.

What a brave girl.

“Are you attempting to make this place a battlefield in the presence of a memorial representative like myself? I will not permit this to happen! You are to cease any and all hostile actions immediately! Can you not hear me?”

 _Damn_ , was all Eclipse could think, waiting for the commander to give her the next order. It was hard to tell who was actually in command in that moment and no doubt that confusion alone would piss off Le Creuset. He had practically gotten scolded and now they were about to give away a very real and possibly victorious scenario all because of, what, one girl?

It took a few more moments, but finally Le Creuset’s voice sounded over the same frequency. “Lacus Clyne, I understand.”

And just like that they had lost all advantages and the possible destruction of a strong, enemy warship. _Damn_. Eclipse was still impressed. _Well played_. 

* * *

“Everyone has been worried sick since your disappearance, Miss Clyne. How good it is to see you back and in good health,” Le Creuset cooed, doing his best to look formal even though he was still heated about the missed opportunity. 

“How very kind of you to say, commander, and I’m sorry to have caused you all such trouble.” Lacus’s voice was light, much like it was over the transmission, but not without its commanding edge. She may have stood there next to Athrun in a flawless white dress and pink hair down past her waist, but she didn’t sound nearly as innocent as she looked. Some may have questioned her authority before, but after the incident with the commander, Eclipse wasn’t about to underestimate her again.

“Oh, no trouble at all, representative. Please, you must be tired. Unfortunately, due to the lack of space on this vessel, we have no separate rooms for you to use. Lunar Eclipse has, however, offered the extra bed in her room if you’d wish to stay there.”

 _I have?_ Eclipse thought, trying her best to mask her surprise. She was sure there were plenty of other rooms available, so why did he feel the need to lie and stick the Pink Princess in her room? Was he expecting her to entertain Lacus or something?

“If not, I’m sure other arrangements—”

“Sharing a room with Miss Eclipse would be just fine,” Lacus interrupted, turning to the redhead and offering a warm smile. Eclipse matched the look with one less perfect and locked glances with Athrun. She tried to send out some kind of SOS, but it fell short when he shrugged and turned back to Le Creuset. The pink, mechanical ball at her side flapped its ears, repeating the phrase “No problem!” as it floated nearby.

“Athrun, Lunar Eclipse, won’t you both escort Miss Clyne to her quarters?”

“Sir,” they saluted and left the bridge, leaving Ades to deal with the commander and any future plans.

The journey was filled with some talk, mostly between the lovebirds, but that was to be expected. The redhead listened in vaguely, leading them down the hall and trying to decide how someone like her was going to entertain a celebrity like Lacus Clyne. Or maybe she was just meant to keep her alive? The pink ball flew near her and she eyed it wearily, not quite sure what to make of it.

“Here we are, Miss Clyne,” Eclipse said eventually, bringing her hand up to stop her momentum in front of her quarters.

“I’ll let the mechanics know that you won’t be coming down to the hangar right away and to start repairs on your suit without you,” Athrun said calmly, helping Lacus through the door as soon as it opened. She sighed, but didn’t disagree with the statement, thanking him and turning away to attend to his fiancé after he had left.

“I’m sorry to intrude on you like this,” Lacus said, taking a moment to look around the room and eyeing the spare bed.

“No, not at all, miss.”

The singer smiled and sat down at the desk, her pink Haro muttering an another “No problem!” before jumping into her open hands.

Eclipse just sighed.

Lacus’s residence on the ship was bound to happen given their mission, but staying in the redhead’s room was a tad unexpected. However, there she was sitting comfortably in the room’s only chair and talking to a robotic ball. “I’m really sorry about this. You probably had some things that you wanted to do,” she apologized again. Eclipse shrugged and was about to add “It’s really no problem,” when she spoke up again. “Well, don’t mind me. Please, do whatever you need to do.”

Eclipse nodded slowly, honestly debating taking her up on the offer, but her options would be limited. Since she finally had some downtime, she was going to try and track FS and Stray, but that type of research probably wouldn’t look too good to the Chairman’s daughter, so instead, she just shook her head. “Don’t worry,” she lied, “no plans for the day.” Eclipse smiled, although it was obviously forced. “Did you want to go anywhere or anything?”

Lacus shook her head. “No, I’m fine here, thanks.”

Eclipse had had her full of awkward silences, but she had to admit that this was one of the worst. The PLANTs’ most loved celebrity was there in her room with nothing but her Haro to keep her company. No clothes to speak of, and no other effects besides her singing voice, quick wit, and charming personality.

Great.

She liked to think no one had any high expectations of Eclipse in this type of situation and she took a bit of comfort in that, trying to decide whether she should remain standing at attention or if it was proper to relax a bit.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” Lacus asked as she debated.

“No, not at all. Really, miss, it’s okay.”

“You can call me Lacus if you like.” She smiled again in what Eclipse was beginning to think was just an attempt at making the redhead return the gesture. The singer continued however, her smile faltering slightly in her next statement. “And you don’t have to lie on my account. I know this is probably a little awkward and I’m sorry. It’s nice to have a conversation like this though, isn’t it, Haro?” The Haro flapped its ears and squealed, “Lacus!”

Eclipse paused, and looked at Lacus carefully. She had just been taken hostage on an Earth Alliance ship and she didn’t even look the least bit fazed. On top of that, she had apologized for being ordered to stay in Eclipse’s room at least half a dozen times. Was this really the same person who had just ordered the commander to abandon an obvious opportunity to get rid of the ‘Legged Ship?’

“Are you _sure_ you’re not hungry or anything?”

“Nope, I’m alright thank you. They took good care of me over on that ship.”

“They did?”

“Yes. There was a young man who was very nice to me.”

“Oh, I see.” Eclipse paused again, trying to digest what she had just said. Was it that Strike pilot? The same one who had brought her over?

“You’re named Lunar Eclipse, correct?”

Eclipse quickly tensed and saluted. “I’m pilot number 8704298 Lunar Eclipse, to be exact.” The question had taken her off guard and she instantly felt foolish, hearing the girl’s chuckle and seeing her smile.

“Wow, so formal. There’s no need to be.”

“Uh, right.” Eclipse shifted nervously, not quite sure what to make of the effect this person was, for some reason, having on her. This young lady was around her age and despite her relation to the chairman, Eclipse had never been nervous around higher-ranked individuals before. Why her? And why now?

“Lunar Eclipse. That’s kind of peculiar. Is that your real name?”

“It was the one I was given, yes.”

“Ah, I see, so you’re the one on the team who’s from that program?”

“What?” The word came out harsher than she had intended and she felt her eyes narrow despite the good nature this girl was clearly exuding. She figured it wasn’t that unlikely Siegel Clyne’s daughter would know about the training, but then again would a father confide in his daughter about such a secret matter? “How do you know about that?”

Either Lacus didn’t notice her threatening look or she didn’t let it bother her. Instead, her finger was on Haro, rocking it back and forth on the desk. “Athrun mentioned a new team member when he saw me recently and I vaguely overheard my father yelling about it on the phone. I don’t know much,” she continued, leaning her head on her upraised palm as she rocked her mechanical friend. “But I know my father disapproved.” She stopped and turned to her then, no smile on her lips but a genuine worry in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Eclipse’s threatening look faltered, unable to hold against such a sympathetic look. And it was sympathy, she knew. It was much like the look Heine had given her earlier when he had learned about her training, which, thinking back on it in that moment, was not a look she was used to receiving. Others who knew of her training, used her skills. That’s what they were supposed to do. They weren’t supposed to feel bad for her. So, why this girl? Why does she know? Why does she even care?

And for fuck’s sake, why now? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thanks for stopping by. This was, at the time, my first attempt at a MS battle and it had failed miserably then and, sorry to say, I don't think I made it too much better here. Despite the amount of time I had put into the MS battles in the later chapters, I just plain lost my mojo over the interim and have lost my confidence a bit... Oh well... I hope it's at least a bit more interesting than it used to be. 
> 
> Anyway, more edits in this chapter for characterization/personality. The key is consistency and I'm trying to stick to it without destroying my original dialogue too much, but I'm often forced to just rewrite (hopefully, for the better). Any issues, just holler.
> 
> Hm, not sure what else to put here other than this is one of the arcs I kinda hate the most in SEED so the desire to edit is rather slow coming... I'll push through as much as I can though and thanks for sticking with me so far.
> 
> Until the next chapter,
> 
> Strata


	20. Lightheaded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse has her first solo mission and while she might not learn much, she does learn some people have a better sense of humor than others.

** Lightheaded **

“Why are you sorry?” Eclipse asked, unable to see Lacus’s reasoning. She was, technically, someone of higher importance, so why did she feel sorry for Eclipse? Wasn’t she supposed to praise her or be impressed by her credentials? Isn’t that normally what people in power do?

“You mean I shouldn’t be?” Lacus asked, cocking her head to the side and cuddling her squealing Haro.

“Uh, n-no that’s—no—I mean you can say whatever you want, it’s just that—” She couldn’t finish her thought and was forced to look away. Lacus’s blue eyes were intimidating and Eclipse didn’t like the idea of being an open book to this girl. This person who hadn’t even known her for an hour.

“Just what?”

“Why do you care?”

Lacus just started laughing and Eclipse froze. She just couldn’t place what she was thinking or what she was trying to achieve. And it was beginning to piss her off.

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to laugh, but you’re so cute.”

“I’m _what_?”

“Sorry, it’s just that you’re nervous and I really don’t know why.”

“I just—don’t do this very often.”

“Really? Don’t they treat you well here? Perhaps I should talk to the commander and—”

“Talk to the commander? You?” Lacus nodded and for the first time, Eclipse felt a genuine laugh bubble up her throat. She chuckled a couple of times, but stopped shy of full on laughter, her pride the only thing keeping the fit at bay. It wasn’t out of malice, Eclipse knew, that she found the situation funny. It was because, for whatever reason, this person knew exactly what to say, when to say it, and just genuinely _cared_. She had never met anyone like that before. “You’re amazing you know that, Lacus?”

Now it was the Pink Princess’s turn to look confused, but there was still something in her eyes. A small glimmer that proved she really _did_ know what was going on. It was then Eclipse decided not to underestimate her again.

“So Lacus, how are things going for you?”

She smiled and placed the Haro down on the desk before fixing the wrinkles in her white skirt. The nervousness seemed to have disappeared. “I’m doing very well, thank you.”

* * *

“So, what are we going to do with Miss Clyne?” Ades asked, propping his head up with his right hand. It had been a long day and still they were no closer to disposing of the Earth Forces warship. At least they finished their primary mission and found Lacus alive and well. 

Too bad they didn’t realize they placed her in a room with a rampaging Berserker.

“Well, we can’t just let the ‘Legged Ship’ join up with the Lunar Fleet so easily. However, with Miss Clyne aboard we can’t do anything. She’d be in too much danger and I, for one, really don’t want to have a heated conversation with the Chairman over the matter.” Le Creuset was sitting in much the same manner in his tradition spot to the right of the captain. To some he may have looked bored, but really he was still angry about the situation. They had stopped chasing the ‘Legged Ship’ in hopes of rendezvousing with the Laconi and Porto teams. What they were going to do after they met up was still under debate.

“That’s why I leave all the politics to you; I’m a fish in a skillet when it comes to that stuff. Chairman Clyne may come off as a mild tempered individual, but I’ve seen him fly off on someone and it wasn’t pretty.”

“So you understand my reasoning for avoiding the situation?”

“Of course, but let’s get back to the real problem. What are we going to do about Lacus?” Ades asked again, swiveling back and forth slowly. It was a very unprofessional habit and Le Creuset had been tempted to tell him so many times, but other, pressing matters usually bumped it to the bottom of the queue.

“The _Gamow_ is pursuing the ‘Legged Ship’ as we speak, correct?” The captain nodded. “While I think they can defeat the ship on their own, we have had a fair amount of bad luck with it. Keeping that in mind, we should probably join the _Gamow_ as soon as we can.”

“Hand Lacus off to either Laconi or Porto, then?”

“That’s probably our best option.”

“I’ll inform Zellman. I’m sure he’ll be happy for the backup and no doubt Yzak and Dearka have been giving him one helluva time.”

“No doubt, but they are good at what they do.”

“If not egotistical about it,” Ades muttered.

“Captain, we seem to have received a private message for Lunar Eclipse,” said a crewmember. “Would you like me to inform her?”

Le Creuset turned to the soldier at the statement and responded before Ades had a chance. “Send it to my cabin and I’ll let her know myself. And for future messages for her, please route them through me as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ades knew about Eclipse’s special assignments, but nothing more then that they were special. He had no issue with Le Creuset taking charge of the situation. He would worry about those missions if they came to him directly, but otherwise, he’d let the commander have his fun.

* * *

The talk between Lacus and Eclipse was beneficial on both ends, or so the redhead liked to think. She learned about some current events in the PLANTs and on Earth, even a few things concerning Orb. She may have fled the country, but she was still curious about it. 

Once the conversation had died down, Eclipse realized the state she was in. She was dirty, sweaty, and exhausted. Not really a good condition with a PLANT celebrity in the room. “Would you mind if I stepped into the shower?”

“No, not at all. Please take your time and don’t worry about me.”

“Well, I’d offer you something to do, but honestly I don’t have much here. I’m terribly sorry.”

“Oh, not to worry. I’ll keep myself occupied.” The smile was priceless and on any other person, Eclipse may have called it the perfect mask; however, knowing this girl, it was genuine. The redhead couldn’t help but smiling back after that realization. 

Eclipse had barely turned off the water after her short shower when she heard the main door open to her quarters. On instinct, she tensed because she was neither expecting Lacus to leave the room, nor did she hear anyone knock to enter. It made her nervous, but when she heard the high-pitched squealing of a particular pink blob, she could only sigh.

“Haro is overly excited,” Eclipse heard Lacus say before the machine’s squealing became inaudible and the clear sound of metal hitting skin as someone, most likely, caught the singer’s pink companion.

Eclipse tried to hurry in order to stop Lacus and keep her out of trouble, but when she heard the door reopen and the singer’s voice again, she calmed down. Apparently, she hadn’t strayed too far.

Eclipse did feel better, at least until she heard Athrun.

“Can’t be helped can it? That’s the situation you’re in right now.” He sounded exhausted, or, perhaps, frustrated? Either way, Eclipse didn’t want him in her room with her being so exposed.

Lacus sighed and then everything fell silent. She had a moment of temptation and wanted to open the door and see what was going on, but her garments made her hesitate. A towel wasn’t a very good impression and, frankly, she shouldn’t even be eavesdropping.

“Athrun? Is something wrong?”

“Uh—it’s just that I was wondering how you are getting along. I mean, you were taken hostage and were forced to go through so much.”

“I’m in very good spirits, thank you. Rest assured, your friend treated me with respect and dignity while I was on their vessel.”

“Is that right?”

“I found Mr. Yamato to be a kind individual. And he has a very strong character.” Eclipse paused at the name and heard Athrun’s short intake of breath. Was this, finally, the Strike pilot? Or just a name to a faceless soldier currently on board the ‘Legged Ship?’ It was never a good idea to know the names of those on the opposite teams, so even if she had no face to the name, Eclipse felt that knowing this much information was dangerous. It made their enemies too human and if she knew anything, it was how hard it was knowing the people on the other side of your barrel.

“He’s nothing but a misguided fool. He insists that he’s not a soldier and yet he’s still piloting that thing. He’s just being used, but he justifies it. Something about protecting his friends. It’s because his parents are Naturals. That’s why—” he stopped, and even Eclipse could hear the frustration in his voice.

“He told me himself that he’d much rather not fight against you.”

“He’s not the only one! Why would I want to—” He paused and Eclipse sighed, leaning back against the wall in her small shower. So, there it was. This Mr. Yamato—no, wait, Kira? Hadn’t Athrun muttered that name before? He was the Strike pilot then and the reason for a lot of Athrun’s distress on the battlefield. His predicament mirrored her own, she realized and frowned at the thought.

“I ask for your forgiveness. If you’ll please excuse me.”

“When I look upon you, there’s a different person there. Lately, I can only see bitterness.”

“I can’t exactly fight a war with a big smile on my face.” Eclipse heard him sigh one last time before he shut the door. At first, she wondered if Lacus had gone after him or if he had, indeed, left standing there alone with Haro in her hands. She listened a little longer, but when she heard the chair creak with the representative’s weight, the redhead figured he had left Lacus behind.

Eclipse gave her a moment and walked out dressed about 10 minutes later to what she thought was going to be an upset Lacus, but, surprisingly, she had recovered quickly. Her Haro was on the floor spinning and muttering something like “Lacus, sing! Lacus sing!” The girl giggled and shook her head, holding out her hands to the mechanical ball. “Damnit!” the thing squealed, startling the redhead with its choice of words.

_Did that thing just swear?_

“Oh, Miss Eclipse, do you feel much better now?” The redhead couldn’t tell whether Lacus might have been concerned Eclipse might have heard her whole conversation with Athrun or not.

“Uh, yes I do thanks. I hope you weren’t bored or anything.”

“Not at all, I had my Haro here with me.”

Yelling another “Yay Lacus!” it jumped from her hands over to Eclipse who caught it rather awkwardly. 

Pink.

Why did it have to be pink?

“Who are you?” it asked and Eclipse turned it around in her hands, finding herself interested in its structure. She had originally thought it had a random series of phrases, but somehow she doubted priming it with a vocabulary of swear words was a good idea given her position in the PLANTs. Did that mean it was some sort of AI? “Hello?”

Ignoring the ball, Eclipse turned back to Lacus. “This looks like something my older brother would be interested in.”

“You have a brother?” Lacus asked, catching Haro when he left Eclipse’s observation.

“Yeah, he’s a pretty big geek when it comes to electronics and stuff. I know a little and I must say that your pink—what’s it called? Haro? Anyway, that’s quite impressive. Where did you get it?

“Athrun made it for me.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I liked the first one so much that he kept making them for me. I really do adore them.”

“Don’t they ever get to be too much?”

“No, not at all. They make very good company.”

“Whatever you say,” Eclipse mumbled, clearly not holding the same affinity towards them as the Pink Princess.

“He’s very sweet, Athrun is. I’m a little worried about him though,” she continued sadly.

Remembering the conversation, Eclipse could see why Lacus would be concerned. While the redhead only knew the Athrun he was currently, no doubt there was a history between those two that would be well beyond what Eclipse observed. “I’ve only known him to be a bit spacy and rather depressed. Haven’t known him long enough to learn why.”

“I may have an idea. One of the pilots on the Earth Alliance battleship is a good friend of his. It’s actually thanks to him that I’m here right now.” She turned towards the pink ball when it squealed another “Damnit!” but her look was very solemn.

So Eclipse’s deductions had been right. Did anyone else know?

“War is a very ugly thing,” she continued quietly. “Both Athrun and Mr. Yamato are kind individuals and not ones that should be forced to fight each other. If only this would come to an end.”

It was a deep statement, Eclipse knew, and despite the sad look on Lacus’s face, the redhead just wasn’t ready to take part in such a heavy conversation. Her outlook on the war would vary greatly from Lacus’s, she knew, and to compound on the pain she was currently feeling with Eclipse’s rather harsh realism—well, even Eclipse had to acknowledge it was not a smart move.

“That young man, Mr. Yamato,” she began instead. “Is he the pilot of the Strike?”

“I don’t know of the machine, but I’ve heard that name before.” When Lacus turned to look back at Eclipse, she noticed something other than sadness in those eyes. Was it respect?

Or perhaps something more?

Before the conversation could go any further, a private at the door told Eclipse to see the commander at his quarters. He saluted and left soon after, leaving no room for follow-up queries. Sighing, she apologized to Lacus, slipped into her elite jacket, and left the room, rolling her eyes when the Haro muttered a “Whatever” before the door closed.

* * *

L4 was about two hours from the _Vesalius_ ’s current position, giving Eclipse a grand total of seven hours to dispose of the SIN-ED representative—taking into account the return trip and the ship’s new location—in order to get back in time to attack the Lunar Fleet. _That should be plenty,_ she reminded herself, although, she was still worried she was being a bit too optimistic. Going back to the colony cluster made her nervous, she realized, and found the location even more curious since the rebels were supposed to have been completely forced out after going there the first time. It seemed foolish to her to return to the scene of the crime, so to speak, but perhaps that was the whole purpose.

From what she was told, this was just going to be a meeting between some SIN-ED operatives and the EA, and she had been tasked with gathering information and stop any transfer of goods, if that was the reason for the contact. Le Creuset had his guesses on the meet up and that one was at the top, but there was no proof, which made information gathering all the more important. The meeting was taking place on a different colony than the one she had met FS and Stray, but despite the fact that she doubted she would meet them again so soon, the fact that there was a probability they had already set up some sort of weapons drop made her nervous.

They were gaining clout faster than she had thought they would.

The ride was boring, even if she was studying blueprints, and the fact that she was ordered to take her GINN made things very uncomfortable. She had never messed with the temperature gauge so much in her career and the scenery wasn't very extravagant either. The redhead had always enjoyed staring into space and watching the stars, but now that she was surrounded by them, they were getting redundant and there was still an hour of flight left.

Her plan was to drop her machine off at the harbor, hide it, and get to the location well before the meeting was meant to take place. _The entrance is at the southern end of the building and I should be arriving an hour before the meeting,_ she thought with a nod. _Most likely no one will be scouting the area just yet._ She had brought two semi-automatic pistols this time around, one per holster around each upper thigh, with enough spare ammunition packed in the pouch at her lower back along with a recorder and silencer. She had another two combat-styled knives sheathed and connected to each holster, three double-sided throwing knives in sheaths on her ankles and one up near her right breast, and had also grabbed a thin but sturdy bit of braided metal wire she had found in the hangar. She had some ideas on how she might use it, and none of them were particularly pretty.

 _Mirage Colloid should initiate in three hours unless I set it off myself. Hopefully stealth won’t be an issue on the return trip._ She had gone over her plan numerous times in her head since her briefing with Le Creuset and still she wasn’t sure she had it right.

Wing it.

Out of all the strategies that genius knew, the best thing he could come up with was wing it? There wasn’t a lot of solid information on the meeting, only the location, time, and some person named Greed. The one thing that made the whole ordeal look suspicious was that SIN-ED was meeting an officer from the Earth Forces. If that wasn’t in the report, it could’ve just been a tea party at noon.

But wherever SIN-ED went, Eclipse was supposed to be there as well, and not for party treats.

Even though ad-libbing was the best plan, Le Creuset did provide a personal spacesuit to keep her fairly anonymous. Its only use was for SIN-ED related missions, however, and knowing what problems could develop if Eclipse was unmasked as a ZAFT soldier, the decision was reasonable. The suit was black through and through. Nothing fashionable, but far enough away in design to ZAFT’s that no one could tell she was in the military. As long as it kept her safe and hidden, Eclipse really didn’t care what it looked like.

Another half hour passed before the redhead figured she should switch on the colloid now to avoid detection. The system was good for a maximum of 90 minutes, but Eclipse was able to alter some programs and to extend that amount to 120 minutes. The addition meant she would have to allot more battery life to the colloid, but at the moment invisible was a very healthy option. Switching on the system, she checked her radars and advanced as quickly as she dared.

There were two harbors located on the colony. One had been used for civilian ships and the other was for product transport. Knowing the civilian dock was the more damaged of the two, Eclipse anticipated the Earth Alliance squad to use the other. It was the correct decision on her part and when she arrived safely in the civilian harbor, she released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. 

If the merchandise dock was in good condition than this one was a dump heap. Debris littered the ground, making it look more like the junk yard next to the facility than anything shuttles could pass through. Three mounds of scrap metal were piled in the northern corner, making it an ideal spot to hide a mobile suit, but knowing the door was on the opposite end of the dock made Eclipse nervous. She would have to cross a fairly large expanse in order to reach her suit and if she was being chased, she might be shot before she even reached the zip chord. However, there were few other options and piling up the remaining shuttles in the port would have looked suspicious. Making a small hole for the GINN, she set it in carefully, cut the colloid and stepped out to admire her handy work.

It would do.

Careful to stay behind the debris, Eclipse made her way to the far door and then out into the colony itself. Judging by the state of the harbor, she expected the inside to be quite trashy and damaged, but actually it was fairly well preserved. Like Mendel, the gravity system was still functioning and, most likely, the oxygen was on as well. She didn’t want to risk it, however, keeping her helmet on. Many of the buildings were still standing and the abandoned cars on the streets added some flavor to the landscape. The interior weathering system was still functioning, but not at a high capacity, from what she could gather. It was a sunny day at the time, but the sunlight flickered inside the colony, turning the landscape into a dull orange instead of a bright yellow or white. The only sound she could comprehend was her breathing and she almost missed the company of a partner in that moment.

Almost.

The meeting place was located in a warehouse just off the docking district. It was still intact with cement walls halfway up the structure that then turned to steel sliding up to a flat roof. It was quite large, but that might have had more to do with most of the roof and the upper part of the southern wall missing. The inside wasn’t gutted, which meant there were plenty of places to hide, so Eclipse wasn’t going to complain. A solid catwalk wrapped itself around the upper wall where the cement hit steel siding and littered with enough debris from the roof and random storage crates to make for ideal hiding. The next question was, where? 

Based on the positioning of the artificial sun, she had come in from the south and it looked to be the only viable entrance. She didn’t want to be stuck at the northern end with no clear way out unless it was through a barrage of bullets, so she figured she would take either the east or the west side of the building. Taking a moment, she surveyed both ends and found her left to have better cover. _West it is,_ she thought and carefully ascended the stairs as quietly as she could _._

Six feet or so past the stairs was a rectangular crate, about 3x5 ft. and 4 ft. high with a smaller 3x3 ft. crate next to it. The larger one was positioned parallel to the railing—only a few degrees off—and about 3 ft. from the wall, making it a decent spot to hide out. The 3x3 was angled enough to provide ample cover to the north and helped make a nice corner for Eclipse to camp out in. Diagonals were going to be tough, but at least her enemies didn’t have a clear shot at her. The only huge problem was the ceiling. While she didn’t think an attack from above was something she would have to worry about, Eclipse knew she couldn’t write it off entirely.

As anticipated, no scouts had appeared, just yet and, hopefully, she could avoid their watchful eyes long enough to learn something at the meeting. 

And to keep her life.

She was well tucked in and prepared by the time the scouts had arrived exactly a half hour after her arrival. She saw them before she heard them, but that had nothing to do with their lack of skill. Eclipse had done two things at the entrance. She had buried a couple of things in the debris and dirt outside the entrance. If anyone had stepped on one trap, she would hear a rattling much like a marble in a tin can and the other was a curved piece of metal that when stepped on would pop up from the ground and hit the sun enough to cause a glare. They hadn’t stumbled into the first one, it seemed, but when she saw the unusual beam of light reflect on to the wall across from her, she knew her wait was over.

They spread out around the warehouse perimeter and given Eclipse’s position, she had a really good chance at taking out one of the scouts before any of his comrades would notice. She wouldn’t be able to keep hidden for long if someone came up the catwalk near her position, so the best she could do was silence him before he alerted the others.

She had done a little preparation just in case, using the wire to her advantage as well as the shadows being made by the crates she was hiding behind. The best-case scenario would be if the scout didn’t look hard enough into her hiding spot to realize there was more person there than shadow and the worst-case scenario would be if he started shooting right away. If he shot first, she was in hot water and “wing it” would then actually be a really good strategy.

A scout did show up then, wearing a similar black pilot suit to her own, and a unique helmet that skewed her vision of the person inside. He was following her same path up the stairs and reached the top a few minutes after he began, checking his left side before taking the sharp right. Despite her sureness of her plan before, Eclipse had never felt so vulnerable. She was wide open for a direct kill and if it wasn’t for her black spacesuit and the shadowed corner, she may have been slaughtered within minutes of her first mission. Her gun was the thing giving the impression she wasn’t some random piece of debris, but she wasn’t about to put it away. Staring at the wire she had prepared on the ground, she felt a small surge of anticipation.

The soldier stalked towards her, his own semi-automatic pistol in hand and aimed high on her figure. _A little closer_ , she thought. He shuffled towards the wall, trying to get a better look, but since Eclipse was in such a good position, he saw nothing else of substance. That’s when he tried kicking the blob he was observing.

Eclipse caught the foot and pulled, startling him enough to allow an entrance at his remaining leg. Crouching, she hooked her right foot around his ankle and kicked outward, knocking him down, face up onto the catwalk. She had tried to control his descent as he fell, still holding onto the captive leg in an attempt to both make his fall as soundless as possible and guide him to her trap, but the best she could get was him not yelping during his descent. He landed with an audible thud and knew she didn’t have much time.

She was on top of him quickly, her legs straddling his upper body and her knees leaning into his biceps as she crossed her arms. They made eye contact briefly and she smirked, grasping the ends of the wire on either side of his head and pulling hard. The wire dug cleanly into his throat right down to the bone until it stopped, killing him in one swift motion and leaving no time between his shock and death to cry for help. Sure, she could've taken off the head entirely, but she had already made too much noise. _Maybe next time._

She paused, listening for any other footsteps that might be headed in her direction, but she seemed to have gotten away with her disposal this time around. The blood was her next issue, however, and trying to keep it hidden wasn’t easy. While the light was still distorted in the colony and the artificial evening fast approaching, a trail of blood was suspicious no matter the situation and she wanted neither herself nor the body to be discovered. At least not yet. Her attack had cut through his main artery, and even though the heart had stopped beating, the fluids refused to listen to reason. _I should start packing towels,_ she thought with a frown and reached down to remove one of her combat knives. She circled a ring around her victim’s left bicep, cutting through the fabric and pulling it down off his arm before wrapping it around the partially severed neck. She did similarly with the other arm and did her best to mop up the trailing blood, keen to keep herself as hidden as possible and briefly wondering if it would have just been easier to use her gun and silencer.

A small, red button flared near the victim’s left breast, reminding Eclipse of the "all clear" signal she obvious forgot about. She cursed inwardly when another one lit and the third one caused a little panic. Praying there was no little trick involved, the redhead pressed the final button and listened. Good, no movement. She let out a sigh of relief and twisted the helmet off the nearly decapitated body, sending another prayer that she didn’t take the head with it.

Looking down at the body, she watched his now exposed arm, trying to see if it would change color or warp. If it did, that would mean the life support system wasn’t functioning and switching out the helmets would probably be suicide. If it didn’t, she just might get away with being able to act as this fallen scout and fool the others on his team. Or, at least, from head down. She was clearly female and he was clearly male, so the moment she was clear of cover completely the whole ruse would be blown. Still, she just needed them to believe he had found his position, and when the arm didn’t turn blue, she swapped helmets and peeked over the crates, overjoyed when no one shot. Swapping the helmets again, she listened and waited for the formal meeting members to join the party.

The next ones to arrive were more SIN-ED members, or so Eclipse deducted by the attire. Even though both sides were probably incognito, Earth Forces members in old jeans and tank tops didn’t seem to fit. One she recognized as Spencer—the quiet member she and Heine had the pleasure to meet last time—but the other three were unfamiliar. Two were bodyguards, she decided, and the other tall, brunette looked to be a personal colleague. _Maybe he’s a Natural,_ she thought, remembering the other renegades who signed up with FS. 

“Tell me, why are we getting all of this fire power again? We don’t have a warship, as far as I know,” the Natural groaned, leaning on a crate with his arms folded over one another. Spencer sighed in response, but apparently that wasn’t good enough. “Greed?”

 _Greed?_ Eclipse thought, remembering the name listed in the report. _Is Spencer, Greed?_

“Obviously not to appease your better nature,” the Coordinator growled. “We already went over this, Lyke, and I’m not about to amuse your curiosity by explaining it again.”

“Don’t trust the scouts?”

“Don’t trust our allies,” he went on, turning and posing a fake smile when seven others walked through the entrance. They were each wearing blue and white space suits with no insignia, though the colors alone could place them as the EA crowd of the posse. They were meeting on abandoned satellites in uninhabited areas of space. Perhaps she couldn’t blame them for not changing too much.

“You’re late.”

“Greed, I assume, the representative from SIN-ED? No, you’re just early.” He was an older gentleman with graying black hair and average height. Not very intimidating, but he had to be of higher rank to be making the transaction. Or so she figured. There was still the possibility he was the fallout guy, which made her wonder why such an unassuming person had been chosen for the transaction.

“Have what we need?” Greed asked.

“In the harbor. Cash?”

“No, credit,” Lyke mocked, rolling his eyes to exaggerate the phrase. The officer obviously wasn’t pleased, but Greed held a faint smile.

“Stop being a smartass,” he snapped, receiving a glare from Greed across from him.

“Since you need us and our cash so badly, I’d keep your mouth shut.”

“Perhaps you need to tie your colleagues’ tongues a tad tighter, Greed. Now, do you have the money?”

“Of course. Who do you think you’re dealing with?”

Eclipse watched the face-off, that display alone telling her more about the situation than any money and goods exchange. It was a fragile alliance between SIN-ED and the Earth Forces, she knew, but they needed each other. There might have been many reasons for the meeting, but if the Earth Forces wanted SIN-ED for the extra power and support, then SIN-ED needed the EA for supplies. The confusing thing, however, was why did the Earth Forces _need_ SIN-ED?

_Thud._

There wasn’t any other way to describe the body that suddenly fell to the ground in the middle of the group. It was unnerving to witness—especially when Greed kicked it onto its back and the gruesome details were present—but no one seemed fazed. It lay on its back, black spacesuit still intact, but missing a rather vital part of its body: the head. It was much like the corpse lying next to Eclipse, she realized, just cleaner shaven and missing the part the redhead wasn’t able to detach. _Hm, same methods as myself,_ she thought. _Interesting._ Though the dropped body both put her on edge and in an awkward position. Was there another person crashing the meeting? That jeopardized her chances of getting out unscathed unless this newcomer was a potential ally.

“What the hell?” the EA officer remarked first, pulling out his handgun as his team did the same.

“This is a scout of ours,” Lyke muttered, receiving a glare from Greed. Perhaps SIN-ED’s Earth Alliance allies weren’t aware that they had sent in scouts first, which was dangerous, especially if SIN-ED had hoped this transaction would run smoothly. A dead body in any negotiation was either meant to be an open threat from one of the sides or they could be ambushed. Either way, friendly relations might be paused for a while.

“I thought you only brought these three,” the EA officer hissed.

“For personal protection, but there were four others sent to clear the area first. Would you have rather come in here not knowing if there was some prowler waiting to devour your ass?”

“So, I’m to believe this is not your doing?”

“You think I’d kill my own men? Damnit, we have enemies too.” 

And with that, the heavens opened again, this time in the form of a torn-up slip of paper. This one, unlike the body before, floated slowly into the waiting hands of Greed who read it aloud: “Sorry, Bob had to go home sick. He felt a little lightheaded.”

Eclipse smirked, but the others weren’t as amused. She tried to see if she could see where the body and paper had dropped from, but her vision was skewed and she didn’t want to break her cover just yet. It was a risk to assume the party crasher wouldn’t see her, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Hopefully, the dead body at her side was enough of an indication that the two of them might have the same agenda.

The older EA officer started issuing commands to his troops, ordering some to go outside and try to search the roof themselves, but two well-placed shots took out Lyke and an Earth Forces’ guard near him.

The shots were indeed coming from above, if the angle of the bullets and entrance locations was any indication. Where they were coming from was still the question that needed and answer, but this particular sniper seemed bent on causing chaos and not gathering information.

“There he is!” one soldier yelled and pointed up.

The redhead couldn’t see the target, but she wasn’t about to just sit back and let this newcomer have all the fun. If she was lucky, Eclipse might be able to get further information on this particular meeting. She just needed to get her hands on someone in the party before the sniper finished them off. Besides, if this particular individual was dumb enough to take out SIN-ED too then all the more reason to help. 

People like that need to stick together. 

Because of the commotion, the scout to Eclipse’s left, on the north side, blew his cover, attempting to try and get the sniper from above in his sights. Eclipse twisted and aimed from her position, managing to keep the one crate on her right shoulder to not expose herself to the party below. She aimed and fired after he took a shot at the gap in the roof. Her shot went wide and landed in the steel frame just in front of him, but it had done enough as far as Eclipse was concerned. He stopped his movement and turned towards her location instead, his otherwise confused expression darkened by his helmet and then wiped off entirely as her next bullet went through the glass.

“There’s more than one!”

While the falling body had been amusing, Eclipse wasn’t sure which scout had been taken out. There were four in total and she had taken care of two so there was either another one this side of the building with her, or there was one still hidden on the catwalk on the other side.

Her sniper “friend” was still making some choice shots at the others on the ground floor, but most had run to cover by that time and unless the sniper wanted to keep wasting ammo, he needed to break contact and get a new vantage point quickly. Eclipse knew she was in about to be in a similar position and took a steadying breath.

She couldn’t see much on the floor and took a risk, sliding out from her cover to aim at and Earth Forces’ soldier who looked to be trying to use the debris on the ground floor to get a clear shot up at the roof. Her bullet went into his right shoulder and—she hoped—through to rest just under his collar bone given the angle, but he wavered instead of fell and she cursed silently. If he didn’t go down, she might pay for that shot later. She couldn’t afford to be that exposed for long, but she gambled on his fate and took aim at another soldier who had turned her direction, aiming down near the edge of the catwalk and getting a shot off into his upper chest. He got one off at her as well, but it went high, the distinct _chink_ sounding as it ricocheted off the steel above her head.

There were still four SIN-ED and four Earth Forces soldiers to worry about, she deduced, but that was the high count. The sniper might have been able to take out another one, but she hadn’t seen the kill so she bet on the higher number. Her immediate concern, however, was the remaining scout and her breaking cover was too juicy of an opportunity to miss, she knew. She could either abandon her vantage point and get on the ground floor to avoid getting surrounded or risk an open run to her left and around the catwalk. Facing the warehouse floor, she seriously considered it and even began leaning left to bolt, but she saw the scout on the other side of the catwalk in that moment and cursed. His shot landed to her left—and might have hit her if she hadn’t had a change of heart—and she was forced to reclaim her original position behind the crates. She was a sitting duck there, she knew, and the sniper didn’t seem to have eyes on her side of the catwalk. That meant she had to get out of the situation on her own.

Two SIN-ED operatives deduced similarly, she figured, because she heard their footsteps on the stairs, attempting to overrun her. Two on one wasn’t good odds, but she didn’t have a clear shot at the stairs and that scout would hit her the moment she broke cover. There were still others on the ground who could hit her too, she knew, but their exact positions were unknown.

Eclipse smirked; she couldn’t help it. The scene was so complicated and amusing at the same time that it was exciting. 

The Berserker was just having the time of her life.

Using as much strength as she could muster, she grabbed the dead body at her feet and hoisted it into a sitting position, turning it so its back was to the warehouse floor below. She waited until the first sign of her assailants crested the end of the stairwell and she shot. The bullet wasn’t meant to hit anything, the shot doing enough by just halting their approach. Pushing the dead body’s right shoulder, it fell out from behind the crates and into the quick trigger of the scout across the way. Two other bullets flew high as the body crumbled, but the window was enough for Eclipse to make her run.

She leapt over the legs of the body and fell into a forward roll, aiming and getting clean shot through the neck of the first soldier on the stairs to pop up. She had to keep with the momentum though, and switched her attention to the other soldier on the stairs. She outright abandoned the gun and her last remaining bullet and reached down to grasp one combat knife at her thigh. He got off a shot, but it went wide and under her right armpit, her arm already high with the knife. She bridged the distance before he could get off another attack and reached across him with her left arm, grabbing onto his left shoulder and pulling herself to his chest, using him as a shield when the others in the room had reloaded and brazenly shot at her despite the friendly fire. One bullet went through his right shoulder, and just above Eclipse’s left, but her knife was up under his ribcage and his body abandoned by the time he could comprehend his betrayal.

Instead of taking the remainder of the flight down, she cleared the stair railing, landing down into a roll that took the breath out of her on impact, but she had landed behind cover and by the sounds of it, the sniper had managed to take out the scout on the other end for her. _Safe for now,_ the Berserker knew and she grabbed the other gun from her other holster, catching her breath for round two.

The high count of enemies remaining was six, Eclipse deduced, but based on the dialogue she was hearing, either the sniper had managed to pick off more than she had thought or the two parties had started shooting at each other as well in the chaos and almost everyone had gone down in that initial barrage. It sounded as if only two were left, but that seemed improbable no matter how good of a shot the sniper had.

She had anywhere between two and six enemies yet and a strangely friendly sniper.

The Berserker smirked.

“What is that? An assassin? Two of them?” Eclipse heard the banter and almost laughed, knowing the EA officer was just giving away their position. “You have got to be kidding me! You set this up, didn’t you?” He must have been talking to Greed and they were directly across from her position. They were pinned down, most likely, because the sniper fired off another shot. By the sounds of it, the bullet embedded itself in a crate near the voices, and based on their cursing, they knew they were stuck.

“And why the hell would I send an assassin after my own men?” Greed hissed. 

“So you wouldn’t have to pay for your supplies, merely take them by force.”

“Money is not an issue here!”

Eclipse slowed her breath, trying to hear if there were any others remaining. She heard some moaning further down to her right at the northern end of the warehouse, and figured that might be the EA soldier she had buried a bullet in earlier. If that was the case, he was still alive, but definitely not enjoying the experience. Whether or not he was a threat remained to be seen and she frowned. There were even more pressing matters however, and ones she knew might hinder her sniper comrade unless he had come prepared. The artificial sun was officially setting and they were losing light fast. Eclipse wasn’t sure how prepared either SIN-ED or the EA officer was, but she sure didn’t want to wait around for complete darkness.

“More to the point,” Greed continued, his attempt to whisper meaningless in the silence. “You know the size of our organization. Do you think I’d risk such valuable men? You’re a fool if you think SIN-ED set this up.”

“Am I? Maybe I should dispose of you and then ask your superiors. Perhaps they’ll listen to reason with your corpse in hand.”

“Yeah, there’s a good idea. ‘I think your representative here tried to have me and my men killed so they could take off with the goods. Don’t worry, I killed him so you don’t have to worry about it.’ You don’t even have any proof.”

“I’ll make my own.”

The Berserker sighed and shook her head, knowing there was only one outcome to the end of the conversation and the gunshot the next moment solidified that narrative, just not who the victim was.

A few more moments passed before Greed’s voice sounded. “I know there’s one on the roof and the other on the floor and any potential allies of mine are either dead or are about to be. I’m not stupid enough to play with those odds. What d’ya say we just drop our firearms and talk? I might have something interesting to say.”

 _Nice choice of words,_ Eclipse thought, but couldn’t help the smirk on her lips. She noticed he said firearms and not weapons, so that meant her daggers were still okay.

“Here, I’ll make my move.” The magazine came sliding out first, followed by the handgun and two more spare ammo clips.

Eclipse still hesitated, however, knowing the sniper had yet to utter a word. But, perhaps, there was no need. A shower of bullet casings and rounds fell to the floor, bouncing off the cement in something that vaguely reminded Eclipse of windchimes. He still uttered no words, but that was probably the best response they were going to get.

“I know there were two of you behind that crate and there’s only one gun out here,” Eclipse said, flexing her grip on the handle of her gun. “Either you slide out your partner’s or you can forget the cease fire.”

“Ah, observant, are we?”

“Just good at math.”

There was a pause and an audible sigh before the surrender came. “Very well,” Greed said and slid both the magazine and gun onto the floor.

The Berserker sighed, but ended up giving in. She was tasked with gathering info, so she needed whatever he was willing, or unwilling, to give her. She unlatched her remaining clips and threw them out before her remaining pistol and magazine. Now they were both unarmed.

Well, in theory anyway.

“As long as you both keep your end of the deal, I can tell you what you want to know.” Greed rose first, his hands up and out at his sides. His eyes shifted upwards as if anticipating a bullet in the forehead, but none came. The artificial light was truly waning then and Eclipse stepped out the next moment, keen to hear what he had to say. She also held her hands up, motioning for Greed to come closer. While she trusted the sniper to some degree, she was still keen to stay out of direct shot and Greed’s confused look in that moment made her frown. He probably just realized they weren’t on the same team.

“Who are you?” he asked as he walked forward, but paused once Eclipse took off her helmet. She saw his eyes grow wide but whether that was from recognition or something else, she wasn’t sure. “Ah, fuck, seriously? It’s _you_? Pride and Envy’s little whore?” Eclipse’s eyes narrowed at the insult, but Greed’s hands dropped to his stomach and he laughed.

 _Laughing?_ the Berserker thought, but didn’t say anything out loud.

“Lunar Eclipse? _Seriously?_ You’re still ZAFT’s dog?”

Her eye twitched at the accusation. “I’m not ZAFT’s anything, or anyone’s whore for that matter. Do you have info for me or not?”

His laughter continued and the Berserker started to frown, watching the hysteria with far less amusement. He wasn’t making much sense and based on the way this was going, he wasn’t about to. In a brief moment, she had thought her face might make him comfortable enough to share, but apparently only FS and Stray were the ones who trusted her. That was important info enough, she supposed, but it wasn’t going to help her with this conversation.

“There were rumors, yes sweet rumors of some broad coming to send us all to Hell, but who would’ve thought it’d be you? Ironic, how ironic.”

“Who are Pride and Envy?” she asked anyway, hoping to get some sense from his muttering.

“Oh, and you’re the perfect one for the job, aren’t you? I mean if only we had a mirror you might be as afraid of yourself as I was at first. I get it, I get it now…” His voice tapered off as he began another fit of laughter. Perhaps she should just put him out of his misery.

“You remember me, don’t you?” he began again, this time taking a couple steps towards her. “And that lovely day you were ordered to torture me?”

Eclipse had tried to repress most of those specific facility memories, so most of the faces she had been tasked to deal with were a blur, nothing but featureless blobs in an attempt to save her sanity, she supposed. Back at the facility, if the tortures had gotten a little scarce during the week, Vindur usually had trainees punish their comrades instead. Greed’s memory must have been from one of those times, but the Berserker wasn’t about to appease his ramblings. “You’re a masochistic freak,” she spat, pulling her remaining combat dagger from its holster and bridging the distance to stab it high into his right shoulder between his neck and collarbone. He wasn’t going to tell her anything without provocation, it seemed.

He merely laughed again and fell to his knees with the force, not able to keep the tears out of his eyes. Although, they weren’t from the pain. “Now _that’s_ hilarious. Pride’s little pet is calling _me_ a freak!” 

Eclipse tugged the knife free and squatted down to twist it into his upper thigh. “Stop babbling and tell me, who the fuck is this Pride you’re always referencing?”

He just kept laughing. “Y-you stand there, torturing me now like back then and you think _I’m_ the monster? Oh, by all means continue the mutilation because why should I live? I want to destroy all humanity remember? Oh, but you’re so righteous because you want to destroy me, is that it? You’re a pathetic liar that doesn’t deserve Pride’s attention, or Gluttony’s and Envy’s for that matter!”

Perhaps he had finally gone insane.

“How long, huh? How long do you think it’ll take before ZAFT figures you out? Before they hunt you down? You’re just like us, or perhaps even worse.” He smiled.

And the Berserker put her knife straight through it.

The figure on the roof just smiled, kicking its feet back and forth as it watched the scene below. In some ways it was inspiring. “So, the devil brought a double-bladed scythe to the festivities after all. Interesting.” It smiled and got to its feet, wiping off some dirt before grabbing the sniper rifle. “How about a race, then? Yes, a race to get the most spirits in Hell to curse our names.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for stopping in for a read. I had to pump myself full of coffee to edit the fight scene so it took me a bit longer than I had originally thought it would. Man, I'm rusty... Anyway, I'm not 100% happy with it, but it's definitely better than it was previously, so I'll take that as a win. If the narrative is a bit unclear, just pop me a comment or message. Again, a bit rusty so I apologize.
> 
> Not much to talk about this chapter other than the fight scene, to be honest, especially since it was over half of the chapter. Nice to see Eclipse in action in the field for a change, and she's far more mobile so it's just more fun to write. This chapter also introduces our friendly neighborhood sniper, who will be showing up again, don't worry.
> 
> Thanks again for taking the time our of your busy schedules to pay this story a visit. Any issues or comments, feel free to get in touch.
> 
> Until next time, take care, all.
> 
> Strata


	21. Harmony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of Eclipse's jaunt in L4 and interlude before the Le Creuset team takes on the Archangel and the Lunar Fleet.

** Harmony **

The cleanup was tricky. Surveying the damage and head count, Eclipse knew, deep down, she shouldn’t just leave the bodies there, but other ideas were eluding her. The groaning that had been happening to her left had stopped a few minutes ago, but she had walked over to check anyway. Putting back on her helmet, she found the struggling soldier and, sure enough, he had passed not too long ago. Despite the rather bleak circumstances, she sighed. Greed had said her name and her affiliation out loud so she probably wouldn’t be able to let him live even if that would have been the more merciful of the options.

Her thoughts went to the friendly sniper and she attempted to shout a few words up towards his hiding place, but there was no reply. Most likely, he had fled because there had been plenty of times to put a bullet in her head and she was still standing. That also meant the cleanup was on her and her alone.

It wasn’t hard to make the leap it was a meeting that had gone terribly wrong, but if anyone looked at the scene any closer, they might see her involvement and even the sniper’s. Was it an issue? Eclipse really didn’t know. She had never really dealt with the aftereffects of her doings, so to speak, so this was new territory even for her. Would ZAFT protect her if someone came knocking?

She would have to find out.

The artificial light had set by that time and she was drenched in a level of darkness and silence that made her shiver. She made a quick adjustment with her helmet and her night vision clicked on, seeing the satellite in an eerie array of greens and greys that sent her hastily making her way out of the warehouse and back to her GINN. She would need to check the opposite port where the exchange between the EA and SIN-ED was supposed to take place and her suit was the fastest form of transport. If she was lucky, the goods would also be there.

The exhaustion hit her almost immediately as she left the warehouse, her mind sharp one moment and then completely exhausted the next. She was beginning to recognize the phenomena and despite the heightened senses, the immediate aftermath was beginning to take its toll. New scrapes and bruises started to burn as her sweat seeped into the wounds, and her knees and ankles throbbed, most likely from being forced to absorb the impact of her jumping from that catwalk previously. She cursed, but had no choice but to move forward.

Her mind drifted back to the sniper as she walked. While she hadn’t seen the full extent of his handiwork, she could tell he was a good shot. Eclipse’s kill count had been satisfactory, so that meant the sniper had either done the rest of the work or SIN-ED and the EA had indeed turned on each other. She hadn’t seen much of the scuffle on the main floor, so there was a possibility for either scenario. If Eclipse ever did meet the sniper, she would have to be careful. Somehow their partnership then seemed more like one of convenience than planned. She dreaded the day they might have to meet for real.

The GINN had just diploid the mirage colloid roughly 10 minutes before the redhead had reached the harbor. She applauded herself for the time accuracy, but the celebration was short-lived. She still had some things to do before she could leave and the thought of possibly engaging more hostiles in her exhausted state was not comforting. Greed smirked across her vision then, the final smile on his face haunting her as she put a foot on the zip chord and slipped into the cockpit. Perhaps she was a monster, she figured, thinking back on the past couple of hours and even her days prior to Heliopolis. Or, if she wasn’t, what was she?

The thought, strangely, haunted her and she had to shake her head to get Greed’s smile out of her head once more. She couldn’t afford to let it bother her. Switching off both the colloid and her night vision, she maneuvered out of the harbor and made her way to the opposite port.

Eclipse didn’t expect anything to be there, she realized then, and found herself relieved. There were skid marks on the floor and some obvious movement of debris, but if anyone had indeed been there from the exchange, they had fled a while ago.

Leaving the harbor, and then ultimately the colony itself, the redcoat switched on the colloid again and sighed, leaving Greed and his insane observations behind.

Or so she hoped.

* * *

Eclipse arrived back at the _Vesalius_ earlier than planned, but her untimely coming was a welcomed sight to Le Creuset. He ordered her to report to his office as soon as the GINN was docked, and had the redhead saluting at his desk in the matter of minutes. 

The first thing he noticed about his soldier was her condition. While her hair may have been patted down, there were still random stragglers and after closer inspection, he noted some dry blood near a cut in her forehead. Her face and hands were filthy—even though she took an extra second to wash them both—and by observing her stance, he could see moisture around an open wound on her knee seeping through her uniform. On top of all that, however, she was exhausted.

Now he _was_ curious.

“Lunar Eclipse, report.”

“Sir, both SIN-ED and the Earth Forces were there as planned, but their numbers were far fewer than anticipated. Only eight from SIN-ED and seven from the Earth Forces were at the meeting, but I’m positive more were in the harbor with the goods.”

“And what goods would that be?”

“I don’t know for certain, but one of the SIN-ED members mentioned it was enough firepower to equip a warship, though I expect that to be more of an exaggerated statement. Either that or they have some serious connections to the EA.”

“Did you get any more information about the drop?”

“No, sir. Another assassin came on the field to start the battle prematurely, so the conversation was cut short.”

“Another assassin, you say?” Eclipse nodded and Le Creuset leaned forward with his hands folded near his lips. “Do you know anything about this person?”

 _They’re reckless,_ she thought, but said, “No sir,” instead.

“But you’re sure they were there to stop the meeting?”

“They took out Earth Forces and SIN-ED members alike, but based on their grand entrance I don’t think they were there to gather information.”

“A rash move on his part then,” the commander said, taking a moment to think things over. Patrick Zala had mentioned Eclipse getting some help on the missions, but was sending a nameless assassin really what he had in mind? Sounded a bit careless even by Le Creuset’s standards, especially since Eclipse hadn’t seemed to be aware of the backup. “Did this sniper shoot at you?” She shook her head and he averted his gaze to look off to the side. Was there another group going after SIN-ED? Or were they there to assassinate the EA soldiers?

He sighed and leaned back, deciding to think more on it later. There were too many unknowns. “The goods were gone, though, I take it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I see…” He tapped his finger on the desk. He would have liked to know what the EA was giving SIN-ED and even more so, he wanted to know _why._ Eclipse seemed just as skeptical as he did, if he was reading her words and expressions correctly. Either SIN-ED had some fairly important ties in the EA, or the EA saw something very tempting about keeping SIN-ED as an ally. “Did you confirm who this Greed was?” he asked after another moment.

“He was SIN-ED representative and a fellow trainee at Januarias 4.”

“Was he now? Anyone we should be worried about?”

“He’s dead, sir.” Her tone gave no room for argument and he found himself both surprised and impressed.

“Very good. Any others you recognized?”

“No, sir, but a few names came up in the conversation: Pride, Gluttony, and Envy.”

“Obviously, they’re copying the seven deadly sins,” he remarked. “But is it merely to hide their true identities? Or maybe they have a form of a republic instead of a dictatorship? That could be a reason for no civil unrest, but that also means there could be seven different agendas floating around the organization.” He tapped the desk again. Would they tolerate something so dangerous as seven different agendas? There had to be something he was missing—some sort of common motive that was keeping them all together.

“I’ll look into it, sir,” Eclipse said simply and he looked at her again. Admittedly, he thought it would be much harder than this to get her to look into and track SIN-ED. Perhaps there was no loyalty there after all.

“Very good. I’ll let you retire long enough to freshen up, but time isn’t a luxury at the moment, unfortunately. Currently, we’re making plans to attack the ‘Legged Ship’ and the Lunar Fleet stationed not far from our position. We believe the ‘Legged Ship’ is trying to make it to Earth and this might be our last chance to apprehend them in outer space. Everyone’s at the _Gamow_ and right now, I want you to join them. If anything, that ship has the refill for the colloid and since there’s some tune-ups for the new GINNs still going on, your best bet for any last-minute repairs is on that ship.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You are dismissed then.”

She saluted and left the office, making her way back to her room instead of dropping her suit off at the locker room. She would have to get it cleaned, most likely, and since she only had the time to shower quickly and put on her ZAFT uniform, any sort of relief for her exhaustion would have to wait.

* * *

Eclipse arrived in the _Gamow_ ’s hanger as soon as she could, dropping off her GINN with the nearest mechanic eager to refill the colloid and make any needed adjustments. She wasn’t about to deny the offer and thanked him quickly before removing her helmet and making her way to the locker room. Changing out of her suit, she headed further into the ship in search of her teammates. From what she gathered, she was supposed to meet them there, but what Le Creuset expected after that, she didn’t know.

Pleasantries weren’t really on the list of conversation topics.

She heard the exchange before she saw it and sighed, stopping outside of the infirmary and gathering up the strength to go inside. This would be the first time three of her new teammates would see her in her shiny new red uniform and based on Dearka’s famous scoff and the two-minute version of Yzak’s injury, it seemed they were all quite annoyed and primed for an argument.

Taking one last sigh she opened the door and stepped in. All eyes went to her immediately and she held her hands up at her sides. “Am I interrupting something?”

The infirmary could hold a total of two beds, one on each side of the room. Yzak was sitting on the bed to the right with Dearka standing near his side and opposite of her as she came in. Nicol and Athrun were to her left near the other bed, both standing with their arms crossed. Was this a scolding or a team meeting?

“When did you get back?” Athrun asked next, genuinely surprised to see her walk through the door.

“About an hour. I was told to meet you all here.”

“You look awful,” Yzak sneered, but really he was in no position to say anything. He was pale with a large bandage covering most of his face on the right side. He sat hunched over in nothing more than a blue shirt and boxers, glancing every now and again at the trashcan near his left foot. If he ended up using it, Eclipse was out of there.

She cocked an eyebrow at the comment, but didn’t offer a reply other than a shrug.

“You don’t look much better,” Nicol retorted in her place. Yzak frowned, but said nothing more, his anger losing to his exhaustion, most likely.

“Where’d ya go?” Dearka asked, the curiosity on his face clear. None of them knew about her new little arrangement with the team so the interest was warranted, but she was also not obligated to tell them anything.

“No where important.”

“Given a rookie job, were ya?” Yzak mocked, involuntarily wincing when he tried to smirk. 

Eclipse gave a wry laugh. “Something like that.” A small silence passed. They were probably expecting her to explain more, but that wasn’t about to happen so Nicol changed topic.

“Do you know what the plan is now, Athrun?”

Athrun nodded slowly. “We’re going to attack the Lunar Fleet and destroy the ‘Legged Ship’ before it descends to Earth. At least that’s what we’re supposed to do, but it’s not going to be that easy.”

"It’s not called a ‘fleet’ for nothing, y’know,” Dearka said with a sigh. Eclipse watched him closely after the statement, realizing his sigh had betrayed his cold demeanor before. He seemed shaken and a brief look down at Yzak might have answered the question for her. Whatever had happened in the battle to cause that particular injury had left him with a little bit of guilt to work through, it seemed. _Although,_ she thought, still looking at Yzak. _I have a feeling that injury is his fault and his alone._

His anger must have been what tipped her off.

“Yes, but we’ve failed so many times at getting that ship. If it gets to Earth without us pulling a trigger, we’ll be the new court jesters in the ZAFT army,” Nicol said.

“I think we’re already a freak show,” Dearka muttered.

“That damn Strike can be blamed for everything!” Yzak hissed, lifting a fist in the air to add flavor, however, the others weren’t impressed, especially the redcoat standing across from him. Athrun looked away at the declaration and straight into the gaze of Eclipse. They locked stares for a moment before another comment by Nicol broke them apart.

She knew more than he thought she did.

“But it’s just one mobile suit.”

“With surprisingly good luck,” Yzak said.

 _Or is it skill, I wonder?_ Eclipse thought, deciding not to voice her opinions out loud.

“Well, whatever the reason, we have to come up with some way to destroy it or it’ll get us,” Dearka said.

“Just leave him to me,” Yzak announced to the annoyance of the others. Did he ever quit?

“You’re in no condition to—”

“Shut up, Athrun! You haven’t done any good against him either! You’ve had plenty of chances to destroy him, you bas—”

“Enough!” Nicol yelled, jumping up from his chair to intervene. Dearka and Eclipse just sighed. “With things as they are now, we won’t even get to the ‘Legged Ship’ let alone face the Strike. Can we please learn the melody before we start playing in four-part harmony?”

“Huh?” Dearka asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Four part what?” Athrun added.

“I’m not doing _any_ harmonizing with you guys,” Yzak said, not able to mask the disgust on his face. Apparently, he was connecting the musical term with something perverted and judging by who was in the room, Eclipse could see why he was appalled. 

Covering up a smirk she turned away as Nicol tried to clean up his mess. 

“My point is, we have a whole fleet to take out before we can get to the ‘Legged Ship,’ so let’s focus on that, shall we?”

“Fine, but what more is there to do then hack and slash?” Dearka asked, causing a few raised eyebrows and an eyeroll from Eclipse. This was ridiculous. 

“Can we keep the metaphors to a minimum? I think we’re all getting headaches,” Athrun suggested.

“Yzak already had a headache,” Nicol grumbled.

“Damnit, Nicol, I’ve had a fuckin’ migraine.” 

Athrun sighed, and Eclipse watched him frown, seeming to go back into his thoughts and probably wishing everyone would just calm down. His childhood friend might have been the source of that thinking and Eclipse found her exhaustion coming rumbling back in that moment. Her fingers went to her temple and she massaged the spot, easing the headache away.

“Well, as entertaining as this all is, if no one has a decent plan I say we break this little pow wow and reconvene later. Maybe. Depends on if any of you want to actually plan something or just keep shouting at each other.” Her hand dropped back to her side and she shrugged. “I have a lot to do before we commit social suicide, so I’m bailing.”

“You’re just going to go out there blind?” Dearka asked.

“Whether it’s you guys who come up with something, or the commander himself, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not involved in this; just tell me where you need me to be and what you want me to do. That’s my job. You guys are the strategists. As it stands, however, you’ve made it fairly obvious none of you can really work together, so either you seriously make the effort to come up with a plan or do just as Dearka says, go out blind. Either way, I have things to do.”

She left after the statement, leaving either behind her either seething or surprised teammates. Even Yzak who always had some kind of comeback, sat with his mouth agape. “When did she get balls?”

“Dear God, let’s not go there,” Dearka muttered next to him.

* * *

Any maintenance on her GINN was finished as soon as she changed into her pilot suit and arrived in the hanger, leaving her to do a final diagnostic and adjust as needed. Her exhaustion was practically unavoidable by that point and she had to take a deep breath to calm down when she settled down in the cockpit. Grabbing the keyboard to her right, she noticed her hands were shaking and she rubbed them together. _Shit._

“Ready when you are,” a mechanic called from the hangar floor.

“Good to go,” she responded and the diagnostics began.

She took another steadying breath and leaned back in her chair. This war was going to end quickly if those four were some of the up-in-coming pilots and the pride and joy of the ZAFT military. And it wasn’t going to be a positive end.

Nicol probably had the most level head of the four, but still he was too soft to control the others. Yzak was on a personal vendetta and didn’t give a damn about the rest of the crew. Dearka wasn’t far behind with his guilt trip and Athrun was still too afraid to open up and help.

It was all so ridiculous.

Then again, she wasn’t trained as a war tactician, so perhaps she had no right to judge. Seeing the bigger picture for a large number of people wasn’t really her forte. Hell, she could barely get out of her own head to figure out what to do about FS and Stray. Whatever happened with the ‘Legged Ship,’ she realized, she didn’t really care about. She had no vendetta, no want for personal glory, nothing really. She wanted the old Stray and FS back, and despite knowing that was a distant dream, she still couldn’t shake the possibility it might come to pass.

Closing her eyes, she rested her head back against the headrest, flexing her fingers when she felt them shake once more. She was exhausted and she knew it was from more than just her most recent rendezvous with Greed. His words haunted her more than she had cared to admit at the time and now that she had a chance to reflect on them, she found herself scared. Had he actually gone insane, or should she be worried? The Berserker, whatever meaning that had, was beginning to define her, so much so others she had no real connection with were beginning to recognize it even if they weren’t using the same terminology. Sitting there absently rubbing her hands together to mask their shaking she couldn’t help but wonder if it was all a bad omen.

“Eclipse, hey, are you all right?” Athrun had asked, his voice quiet in the distance. He must have come to find her after they had left the infirmary. Maybe they had actually come up with a plan.

“Should we be worried?” Nicol asked, most likely standing near his comrade. It wasn’t until Athrun asked again that she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, opening her eyes and looking at them both.

“You guys come up with a plan?” Athrun and Nicol shared a look and she mimicked the frown on their lips. “Yes?”

“You sure you should even sortie?” Nicol asked.

She shrugged. “Why not?” They looked at each other again and she sighed, one shaky hand moving to rub her forehead. “I’m fine and not really worth worrying about. Just tell me what you need me to do.”

There was an awkward pause as she tried rubbing out the headache behind her eyes and her machine beeped, announcing the end of the diagnostic test. She almost spoke up again when Athrun finally said something.

“I think I’ve decided to keep you out of this plan.” He gestured to the hand at her forehead as if that said it all. “You’re a liability right now and we can’t afford any more mistakes.”

“Athrun…” Nicol began but he didn’t argue and even the look on the younger pilot’s face proved he was having similar doubts.

Eclipse was unamused. Her hand slipped back down as she crossed her arms one again, her exhaustion shifting to anger as her eyes narrowed. “I’m sure you both think you’re being noble or something.” Their surprise at her remark was clear and she felt herself scowl. “My mental or physical capacity is of no concern of yours. We’re all dealing with our own inner demons, aren’t we?” Her eyes shifted to Athrun and he tensed, but whether it was from her words or her look, she didn’t know. Nicol had grown still through the exchange, but the Berserker had little desire to figure out the reason for it. “Now, I’ll ask you again, what’s the plan?”

* * *

“What the hell was that?” Nicol asked, turning to Athrun as the two entered the locker room. He seemed out of breath, as if the whole ordeal had taken him so off guard his lungs had forgotten how to function. Perhaps Athrun felt the same, he realized, having to take a steadying breath himself.

“No idea.” He turned slightly to watch the door close behind him and shook his head as if trying to dislodge the memory. “It was more than just exhaustion though.”

“Should we be worried?”

The question made Athrun pause for a moment and looking over at his fellow redcoat he realized the concern was genuine. He still hadn’t completely figured out what to make of their new teammate and moments like this made him wonder whether he ever would. Was this really the same person Lacus had said was so lovely?

“Let’s just be wary of it for now, but I’m not sure we can really afford to think about it too much. Like she said, she’s dealing with… something and we should probably just let her be.”

“Is that your solution to everything?” Nicol asked, the sharpness in his voice startling and when Athrun turned to him, the almost accusatory expression etched across his face made him backpedal. Apparently, everyone was surprising him nowadays and it wasn’t a comforting feeling.

Especially from someone like Nicol.

Athrun opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when the intercom sounded.

“Attention. We are about to begin our operation. Nicol Amalfi and Dearka Elsmen to the bridge. Athrun Zala and Lunar Eclipse are to transfer to the _Vesalius_ for further instruction. I repeat. We are about to begin the operation. Nicol and Dearka to the bridge; Athrun and Lunar Eclipse to the _Vesalius_.”

Eclipse didn’t need any further prodding it seemed, her GINN launching mere minutes after the announcement. Athrun sighed and returned to Nicol, noticing his fierce look still remained.

“Just leave it alone, Nicol,” he said and shrugged, heading to his locker and the pilot suit stored there. “We have a battle to worry about and sticking this little mess into the fray will add to the chaos. We’ll just have to forget about it until we can confront her properly, that is if she even wants to talk to us about it.”

“So, we avoid it?” Nicol sighed and shook his head, turning towards the door and beginning his trek to the bridge. “I expect avoidance from Yzak and Dearka, but I thought you at least had a larger repertoire of tactical maneuvers.”

“Be careful, Nicol,” Athrun started, stopping the younger pilot before he could leave. “Don’t waste your kindness on someone who doesn’t want it. That distraction could get you killed.”

“Kindness is never wasted, Athrun,” was his simple response before he left, leaving his comrade to change and head back to the _Vesalius_ alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thanks for stopping by. A shorter chapter this time around, which I think might be a bit refreshing. This is more of a tweener chapter, so a bit slower than, say, the one before. Still, I hope it was interesting.
> 
> This was probably 90% fully rewritten from the original chapter. I tried to keep some of the dialogue and transitions, but most of it just had to go for consistency reasons. The rewrite also meant this was completely slashed and I think I lost 1–2,000 words of excess drama. I hope it's a bit tighter and more focused. 
> 
> Anyway, not much to say other than I like the tension between Athrun and Nicol here. 
> 
> Thanks for stopping by and taking a minute or two out of your busy lives to have a read. I've just posted the next chapter of Book 2 on FF and have been dabbling with text from Book 3, so coming back to Book 1 is often difficult. Hopefully, I'm putting myself in the right mindset, but always happy to hear any opinions to the contrary.
> 
> Thanks again and see you in the next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	22. Breaking Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Le Creuset team vs. the 8th Lunar Fleet.

** Breaking Apart **

The briefing was, well, brief. The elites had been split up into two teams; Athrun was with Nicol and Eclipse was sent to back up Dearka—mainly because Yzak was still in the infirmary. Three new pilots had joined the _Vesalius_ from the Laconi team when Lacus was transferred over to their ship and, for once, they didn’t look straight out of the academy. That was good for them—especially with the _Vesalius_ ’s record of deaths—and good for the redcoats who needed some veteran comrades. 

The plan was this: the “Legged Ship” was positioned at the rear of the fleet and, judging by its position, wasn’t expected to join the battle unless absolutely necessary. While that may have been smart on the Earth Forces side of things, it meant there were about ten warships between the Le Creuset team and their target. Not very good odds by any standards, but both the captain and the commander had complete faith in the stolen prototypes and their pilots. 

Hopefully, they had such confidence in themselves.

Athrun, Nicol, and one other GINN were to focus their attacks on the left side of the fleet; Dearka, Eclipse, and two more GINNs were to attack on the right; and the last three GINNs—along with the _Vesalius, Gamow,_ and a last _Lurasia-_ class she didn’t know—were to plow down the middle. The commander hoped to stretch the enemy thin and, given the amount of strength the Gundams had, one of the teams was bound to create a hole big enough to reach the “Legged Ship.” It was a long shot with only three ships and so few mobile suits, but they weren’t about to let the warship get to Earth unharmed or unchallenged. 

Both Athrun and Eclipse headed to the hanger after the meeting to make some last adjustments to their mobile suits and wait for further orders. The redhead had seemed spacey the entire briefing, or at least Athrun thought she hadn’t been hiding her exhaustion well. He was still trying to digest what happened on the _Gamow_ and wasn’t about to confront her until he had completely figured out what he had witnessed.

 _Should I talk to her?_ he asked himself as he followed her down the hallway. It seemed foolish to be debating the conversation in the first place, and after telling Nicol to forget the affair, he felt hypocritical in talking to her. 

Maybe he should let the musician handle things after all.

“If you want to say something, I’d rather have you say it than stare a hole in my back thinking about it,” Eclipse muttered, but refrained from glancing behind her. She really didn’t want to make eye contact. “I think I know why you’re being rather skittish around me and you don’t have to pretend to be nice or anything. Personally, I hate it when people are fake, so let’s avoid that, shall we?”

“Later,” he responded. “Not a good time, but we should probably talk after the battle.”

“Fine by me.”

“Mobile suits to launch in three minutes,” the intercom announced, ending the conversation before either could say something more. “All units check systems. Sealing all Bulkheads. All hands quickly take your positions.”

* * *

Athrun was the first to launch, followed closely by Eclipse. Dearka and Nicol met them in their mobile suits for a brief run through of the plan before breaking off into their teams. Eclipse was armed with a heavy blade and heavy assault machine gun, but given her love for melee, her preferred weapon of choice was probably obvious. She wasn’t burdened down by any heavy weaponry this time around so she should be able to perform a bit better and despite her exhaustion, she was quite looking forward to the challenge.

“Dearka, Eclipse! Let’s give ‘em hell; that Strike’s going down.” 

A unanimous “Huh?” was shared between the GINN and Buster pilots at the sound of the transmission. 

There was only one person who talked like that.

“Y-Yzak!” the blond shouted, but he couldn’t exactly say he was surprised. It took two doctors, Dearka, six bruises, and two restraints to keep the Duel pilot from going to the briefing. And only after some 20 curse words did the Buster pilot finally manage to get to the bridge, but the big question was, how did he get out? “What, did you gnaw off the restraints?”

“Shut up, Dearka, are we gonna fight or what?”

“I’m choosing the ‘or what,’ now get back to the _Gamow_! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“I’m fine, now let’s go!” The Duel was gone before he even finished the statement and was about to engage a newly deployed mobile armor before his friend could decide what to do next.

“Eclipse, keep an eye on him. I’ll do what I can back here, but this suit isn’t made for close-range combat.”

“You don’t trust him?”

“You do?”

“He’s an elite. I’m sure he can handle himself and besides, with the Duel beefed up as it is those puny mobile armors are going to flee at first glance anyway,” Eclipse said as she followed Yzak into the fray. His suit did in fact have more fire power—being in Assault Shroud mode—with a Shiva railgun attached to the right shoulder and a 5-barrel missile pod on his left one. The suit could definitely take out more enemies with the new armaments, but they made his suit heavier and produced a few more blind spots in the process. Eclipse knew Dearka’s concern was well placed, but she couldn’t worry about both herself and Yzak. 

“I know but he’s badly injured and terribly pissed. Just don’t forget about him.”

The redhead chose not to respond, leaving the smartass comment for a later time. 

It was chaos; there was no other way to describe it. Eclipse was getting used to the one-on-one fights and, honestly, didn’t like the “mass-mob fighting” she was getting thrown into. Even back at the facility the simulations were mostly related to smaller units and infiltrations. She kept reminding herself she would get used to it—if she wanted to survive, she would have to—but the transition was still difficult.

Not to mention she hadn’t had a descent amount of rest since her escapade with Greed.

“Hey! Keep your eyes open!” Yzak yelled, sniping the mobile armor coming up on Eclipse’s rear. Another smartass comment popped into her head—something about her, at least, having two of them—but she bit her tongue once again and focused on the fight at hand. 

Two mobile armors advanced on her GINN, one at her two o’clock and another around her 12 o’clock. They were Moebius units and despite there being swarms of them on the battlefield, they were not known for being very much of a threat unless they used their favorite tactic which was overrunning their enemies with numbers rather than with firepower. Given their armaments, Eclipse wasn’t too surprised. Its linear gun at the bottom of the unit was the most dangerous, but if it was fitted with four missiles, much like what one of her current opponents was, they produced a little more bite. The two Vulcan guns at its sides completed the extent of its weaponry, leaving the unit to look like a short-nosed fighter jet attached to a long mustache with boosters. Not much of a threat against the prototypes, Eclipse knew, but with as little defensive shielding as she had, her ass was a little closer to the fire.

The one at her two o’clock attacked her with a barrage of bullets—causing more annoyance than actual damage—while the other launched two rockets. The Vulcan guns weren’t going to damage her much, Eclipse knew so she fled upward to keep her distance from the other assault. Once she was sure of the rockets’ course, she aimed with her machine gun and destroyed them both, having to make a split-second maneuver from a _Drake_ -class Earth Alliance ship’s Gottfried cannon blast afterwards. Perhaps the Moebius units’ attacks were a little more coordinated than she had expected. She cursed. The Earth Alliance ship that missed wasn’t about to mess up again and fired its own Vulcan guns at her mobile suit. She was forced to retreat backwards and into the unfortunate vicinity of two more Moebius units, one equipped with missiles and the other with a linear gun.

The two advanced in front while her previous two adversaries came up the rear. Looking to be nothing more than the typical four on one, the redhead aimed at an armor in front of her, managing to take out its linear gun before its partner fired two missiles. She couldn’t see the extent of the damage the destroyed linear gun had done to the mobile armor, but she did hope it would slow the unit down enough to take out the others first.

Knowing there were two Moebius units behind her and knowing the chaos taking place above her position, Eclipse decided to go down, shooting and destroying the missiles just as another forgotten _Drake_ -class warship and a well-placed Gottfried nearly took out her right leg. 

“Damnit,” she hissed, and fired two more shots—destroying the Vulcan gun on one unit and managing to hit the cockpit of another—before two more missiles came her way. There were still three Moebius units engaging her. She maneuvered away from the missiles, directing them into the view range of the remaining Moebius with a linear gun. She shot at both missiles once they passed in front of his cockpit, destroying them and putting another shorter barrage through the cockpit of the blinded armor.

The remaining two charged at her and Eclipse switched weapons, feeling her lips curl upwards when she put the heavy blade in her hand. The Vulcan guns still did little damage to her armor and the Moebius unit leading the charge had been the one she had taken out the linear gun of previously. It looked to be acting as decoy, Eclipse knowing full well the remaining armor of their little skirmish was still fitted with two missiles.

As expected, they came in tandem. Eclipse waited until just before the first unit was bailing out of the way of the missiles and charged, dropping under the armor and stabbing upwards with her blade. The metal cut clean through and she used the momentum to pull the dead pilot and machine into its partner. The impact caused both to explode, Eclipse managing to get away before her GINN could get damaged from the blast, and just in time to see flashes in her peripheral vision of two _Drake_ -class ships being destroyed.

The Berserker smirked.

Dearka had already moved to another _Drake_ -class when she joined him, playing decoy herself and driving the Vulcan fire towards her as her comrade’s rifle took out its engines and bridge in one shot. _Show off,_ Eclipse thought and moved over to support an outnumbered Yzak instead of searching for another ship. 

“I don’t need your help!” the Duel pilot yelled as she took out a mobile armor coming at him from below. “I’m doing just fine!”

“He was in your blind spot and judging by the fact that you have only one eye working, you can’t see half of the enemies coming at you,” the Berserker spat, switching back to her machine gun and sniping two more rockets aimed at the Duel. “If you want to get revenge on the Strike, then you have to be smart about it. Stop relying solely on your anger and let’s worry about making that hole to the ‘Legged Ship.’”

Yzak didn’t respond, slicing his beam saber through an enemy just as Eclipse took out another Moebius unit. He hesitated a moment once the area was clear—almost as if he was going to thank the GINN pilot—but decided to attack more of the Alliance before they could regroup. “Dearka, what’s your status?” he asked, using a frequency all three were on.

“Give me a few seconds and I’ll be there to back you up.”

“Looks like our comrades have things under control. Athrun’s already taken out a ship and Nicol’s working on another. If we’re lucky, they might send more troops over to help out on their side, leaving us with less fish to fry,” Eclipse stated, following after Yzak when he headed straight towards the “Legged Ship’s” position.

“That works for me just fine,” the Duel pilot replied, taking out two more armors with one shot from Shiva. 

The Berserker nodded and smirked as well, switching to her sword to slice an enemy in half. So far things had been going smoothly, then again the battle hadn’t been going on for long. None of the suits had taken damage—at least not the Buster, Duel, or her GINN—and the teamwork between Dearka and Yzak was quite impressive. The Duel had made it to another warship, focusing its attacks mainly on the ships engines while avoiding gunfire. Dearka had found an excellent position above his friend’s fight, destroying any mobile armor that neared Yzak. The only problem about the set up was that the Buster was left open. This was where Eclipse was useful. 

Three straggling Moebius armors advanced on the Buster as Dearka destroyed a Gottfried cannon on the warship before it could target the Duel. The Berserker cut off the armors and swung around to slice the right booster off one, and stabbing another through its cockpit just as it targeted the Buster. Turning back around, she sped towards the remaining unit. This one had missiles and it fired as she neared. Eclipse planned on just cutting through the missile—to keep her momentum going—as she advanced on her enemies, but the other Moebius armor apparently had enough stability to shoot the missile just before she reached it. Although the explosion didn’t do much damage to the machine itself, the Berserker inside was caught off guard for a split second too long. The Moebius unit unleashed another missile just as the first was destroyed, taking out Eclipse’s right leg before she could regain her bearings. 

Cursing loudly, she gambled and switched to long-range fire, releasing her heavy blade without sheathing it and grabbing her machine gun. She fired five shots randomly at her enemies—to keep them from advancing further—as she tried to stabilize her unit. None of the shots hit and the one armor that could move was in her face before she could put up an ample defense. She cursed again and released her machine gun that time, grabbing the heavy blade in the same motion and stabbing forward with her sword to pierce through the left side of the unit. The hit forced the Moebius unit into a spiral, sending it and its unfortunate pilot careening off harmlessly behind her and lost into the chaos of the battle.

“Eclipse, you alright?” Dearka asked, taking out the remaining Moebius unit with the damaged boosters.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but damnit that was embarrassing. I lost a leg to a mobile armor?”

“You have to remember that your machine isn’t as capable as ours. I’m sure your reaction time was fine, but GINN controls aren’t always that sensitive. How’s it look?”

“Right leg’s gone and the booster’s damaged as well. I’m fixing the output as we speak, but my performance has gone down considerably.”

“You’ll have to make do, it looks like Yzak just made our hole to the ‘Legged Ship,’” he remarked, not hiding the excitement in his voice. After taking out the engines, the Duel went for the prize and destroyed the ship with an all-out attack. “There’s only one ship left and then it’s on to the main course.”

* * *

“The ‘Legged Ship’s now pulling away? Halberton that bastard. Is he using the 8th Fleet as a shield to allow that ship to get to Earth?” Le Creuset wondered aloud.

“Hm?” Ades replied, turning in his seat to look at the commander. If that was really what the Earth Forces were planning, things were going to get hectic.

“Close in on them! It’s imperative we destroy it before it makes its descent!” Le Creuset ordered, causing the captain to jump slightly in his seat. He was on edge as it was.

“Right!” Ades shouted a moment later, relaying the command to the forces.

The pilots fighting took it differently. Athrun and Nicol merely nodded in response before upping their battle performances. Dearka sighed and muttered some curses at the “Legged Ship” while Yzak sat in his cockpit fuming. “Where is he? Just where can that Strike be hiding?”

Eclipse shook her head. The tactic wasn’t all that surprising, but if the “Legged Ship” got to Earth without the team inflicting any damage on it whatsoever, things were going to get difficult later on—mostly for the ZAFT troops on Earth. However, with her suit in the state that it was, she couldn’t do much of anything other than offer limited support. 

The Buster and Duel took off towards the last ship soon after the transmission, forgetting about the Berserker in her damaged GINN. _What to do,_ she thought, but didn’t really have to dwell on that matter too much. She planned on following them no matter how beat up her machine was.

Pulling up the OS again, she made some final adjustments to fix the boosters, check her battery life, and just to stabilize the damaged area. The whole matter took seconds and she took off to help her comrades.

When the “Legged Ship” launched the Strike and the Zero, it seemed to have surprised both sides. Judging by the situation, the Earth Forces wouldn’t have been too happy about the decision, but they had no other choice than to accept it. Everyone on that ship was stubborn—even ZAFT knew that—so the launches really weren’t that unlikely.

Well, at least a certain individual on the Le Creuset team was happy.

Yzak got what he was asking for and luckily the Strike wasn’t expecting the upgrades on his machine. The two met soon after the Alliance Gundam fled the ship and based on some obvious interpretation, the Strike felt slightly outmatched. “You’re going down!” the Duel pilot yelled, offering up a barrage of shots before pulling out his beam saber. His enemy blocked two shots with his shield and evaded the third with a dodge to the right. Their weapons met then, Yzak’s forcing the Strike backwards.

“Damn he’s pissed,” Dearka muttered over the frequency, watching his friend with mild amusement.

“More than usual?” Eclipse asked, still getting used to her damaged machine. Good thing they were in space and not on earth. She may have had more problems with gravity.

“Surprisingly, yes.” He chuckled when Yzak spouted some more colorful language amid attacks. That laughter was short lived, however, when the Zero aimed and shot at the Buster. Three bullets hit him in the back before the mobile armor flew by the Buster and began turning for the second round. Dearka muttered something and returned fire, missing the Zero by inches.

“Hey, don’t get too close!” Athrun yelled, alerting the Berserker to his arrival. Nicol was right behind him, but they stopped short of their teammates’ position.

Apparently, they knew something the other three didn’t.

“Eclipse!” the Blitz pilot shouted. “Call Dearka and Yzak back. They’ll be sucked into the Earth’s atmosphere at this rate.”

“You think Yzak’s gonna fall back now? He’s finally getting his revenge on the Strike and being very vocal about it too.”

“Yes, but the gravity could tear your units apart,” Athrun explained, but the Berserker was already out of sight. _Damnit,_ he swore and if it wasn’t for Nicol’s intervention, he would’ve followed her.

Helplessness was not a feeling he enjoyed.

Eclipse wasn’t totally sure what she could do. Dearka was fighting the Zero and Yzak was kicking the Strike’s ass. What was left of the mobile armors and the 8th Fleet were pulling away from the “Legged Ship,” so really she had nothing to do.

Hah, except get sucked down with the rest of them.

“Captain Zellman!” she heard Nicol shout and turned towards the _Gamow_ , hoping to see what was happening. Seeing the ship heading towards the flagship of the Alliance, she cursed and went to back it up.

 _There’s no way that ship can survive,_ the Berserker thought, realizing she could have meant either the _Gamow_ or the _Agamenmnon_ -class warship. Swearing again—she was beginning to think Yzak was rubbing off on her—she pushed harder on the thrust to outmatch the gravity pull. It worked after a while, but she was thrown off course and instead of lining up with the bridge of one of the two remaining ships, she ended up about 10 meters below. _Shit_ , she thought when all her buzzers went off, but what she noticed first was the dramatic temperature change. Things were going to get difficult.

“Eclipse, what’re you doing?” Athrun yelled, wanting to go and help, but knowing it would have been a stupid move. “Your GINN can’t handle so much pressure and especially not in that state!” She didn’t respond and, honestly, it looked as if she was on some kind of suicide mission. “Damnit, Eclipse!”

The Berserker ignored her comrade’s pleas, not caring whether he was concerned about her fate or not. Nope, all she cared about was the destruction of the last two ships.

After all, what else mattered?

Aiming carefully with her machine gun, Eclipse took out two Vulcans on one ship’s haul, reducing its firepower to only machine guns. Fighting through gravity once more, she swung around to the back and fired at the weakened areas near its engines, taking a few hits to her right side in the process. She was forced to take the hit, her left arm absorbing the attack as much as it could, but the combination of intense heat and bullet abuse forced it apart and she cringed as her unit rocked with the damage. Luckily, the _Gamow_ fired at the ship before it could attack again, destroying it with only one, last shot.

The explosion sent her flying into Dearka’s fight with the Zero. The blond had a few choice words about the intervention, but seeing as the mobile armor was fleeing already, the he began focusing on his immediate dilemma instead: falling to Earth. “There’s no way I can get out of this. The Zero damaged my boosters and I’m too far into the atmosphere now. Damnit! Can this thing even do entry on its own?”

Eclipse managed to stabilize her unit and took a steadying breath before bringing up her OS and shaking the sweat out of her eyes. “Yes, you can, but it’s not going to be pleasant,” she responded. “Do you know what adjustments to make?” He confirmed that he would figure it out and she nodded, increasingly worried about her own predicament. She knew she was stuck—there was no question about that—but could she survive the fall?

Wasn’t that the million-dollar question?

“Where’s Yzak?” Dearka asked as he began making adjustments to his own machine. If he shut off the battery output and focused on stabilizing his unit, he might avoid both an explosion and motion sickness.

Highly unlikely though.

“Still fighting the Strike,” the Berserker responded. One of the screens she was looking at overheated and gave a _pop_ before it went black. She cursed, leaving her with no other option than watching her suit spin uncontrollably down to Earth. Her communications quit next and she closed her eyes, stuck in a metal container as the temperatures rose.

 _I’m not going to make it,_ Eclipse realized and nearly panicked, but the Berserker stopped the paranoia.

No, this monster wasn’t going to die just yet.

Athrun and Nicol watched it all from above; Zellman’s heroic sacrifice, Yzak’s reckless decision, and even their comrades’ descent. The battle was won—that they both knew—but the ‘Legged Ship’ was still going to make it to Earth. Given, it may be slightly off course—blame the Strike for that one—but on Earth, nonetheless.

“Yzak! Dearka! Come back you guys! Eclipse!” Nicol shouted into the transmission, causing more annoyance than actual help.

“They’re too close to the Earth’s atmosphere. The gravity’s pulling them in and there’s nothing we can do about it. Damnit,” Athrun cursed, as he watched helplessly. Putting two and two together, he figured Yzak and Dearka would be alright—then again, he didn’t know everything about the prototypes and his calculations could be off. If that was the case, they were both about to go through a nasty fall with some extreme temperatures. Eclipse, however, was another matter. He didn’t think her GINN would make it at all.

At least not in one piece.

* * *

“Did you see the report?” Stray asked as he set a tray of fresh cookies down on the table and took the seat across from his comrade. Most of the SIN-ED members—Stray and FS included—had fled to Earth after the colony incident with Eclipse and Heine. It didn’t take them long to find a place to camp—by ransacking some houses on the outskirts of a small village—and start their operations, but ever since the failed connection at L4, things had been getting pretty heated among the senior officials. Mostly between Roan and FS, who were banging heads for leadership as it was. “You know he’s not going to be happy about it.”

“Who cares; we tried and that’s that,” FS growled, grabbing a cookie and chomping down hard. 

Stray almost made the comment, “What did the cookie ever do to you?” but bit down on his own pastry instead. “Yes, but he was very persistent about her.”

“And only God knows why.” FS did know why, actually, but he kept that tidbit to himself. Despite everything, Stray still seemed too innocent to know the whole story.

“Whatever the reason, we failed and we’re in too delicate a position to not be scared shitless. He’ll have our asses for sure.”

FS didn’t respond and sipped at his coffee. The real reason they had set up that meeting with Eclipse was because of Roan’s insistence. Of course, Stray had been all for the idea immediately, but FS wanted to wait. He planned on showing Eclipse how they were going to change things instead of merely telling her. The meeting didn’t go well—as they both agreed—and FS blamed it mostly on the timing. She hadn’t had a chance to see how ZAFT was going to treat her.

How they were going to use her.

“Anyway, what’re we going to do now?” Stray sighed, ignoring his friend’s inner turmoil. “He’ll be here in a few hours and, honestly, I don’t want to get in a huge fight with him again. You know the unrest that brought about last time.”

“Six dead and most of them Naturals. I don’t necessarily call that a huge lost—seeing as the organization’s growing—but they were from De’Amelith. Killing original members wasn’t a good idea.”

“Like we had a choice and besides, Greed could be blamed for that one.” Stray’s face went dark at the comment and it actually surprised FS for a moment. Had his friend always been able to do that? “Anyway, you think they’ll attempt a mutiny again?”

He shook off the surprise. “I’m trying not to think about it. Let’s just worry about this meeting first ‘cause, for some reason, Roan has more support here than me. If he’s pissed—”

“Then we’re targets,” Stray finished, sighing lightly while pouring himself another mug of coffee. Even though FS had been the one to free everyone from Januarias 4 and provide the other renegades with shelter, he was the top one on the Black List. Why, neither of them knew, but they figured it was because of conflicting strategies. FS wanted to break down each army individually and from the inside, while Roan just wanted to destroy them outright—a little less time consuming, but practically suicidal by anyone’s estimations. However, there had to be more to his plan than that.

The problem was what.

“Why do you think she did it? I mean, you _are_ the head of this thing and she knew she’d have to face you eventually. Why would she attack us?” Stray asked softly, sounding quite hurt.

FS sighed. His friend had been asking him the same question ever since they had heard the transmission and, frankly, he didn’t have a decent answer. “I’m sure ZAFT is using her, but they’ve probably twisted her to think she’s doing some form of justice. At any rate, Lexi doesn’t just do things for the hell of it, so she probably has _something_ in mind.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right, but, Revelin, does this mean _we_ have to hunt her now? She is a threat to us after all.”

“I’m not so sure. Roan seems almost obsessed with her, so just killing her off would be foolish on his part. No, I think he has something planned, but I have no idea what. I really don’t like it though.” The brunette stood up and walked across the living room to the window. It was a cool, winter day outside and almost lovely if it wasn’t for the melted snow, dead grass, and untidy garden near the picket fence. Stray had been working at it—getting it ready for spring—but his efforts had made it look worse. FS could only hope his friend had some kind of green thumb or his long stares out the window were going to be dreary ones from now on. 

The cook sipped at his coffee again, breaking up another cookie and dropping it in the cup. FS watched him silently, deciding to ignore his antics a long time ago. 

He’d go crazy if he pointed everything out.

“Did you see the letters I found and laid out for you?” Stray asked.

FS nodded. “That’s what’s making me nervous. I think they have something to do with Lexi, but it’s just a hunch. Did you find out who Muruta Azrael and Gilbert Durandal were?”

“I haven’t been able to do a descent search with Roan’s cronies watching my every move. The name Azrael sounds vaguely familiar, but I’m not gonna jump the gun just yet. Until I know more, I think we’d best assume they’re helping him with his ‘grandmaster plan.’”

“That’s obvious,” FS muttered. He felt powerless, with the whispers of mutiny, Roan’s secrets, and Eclipse’s unknown role floating around. It didn’t help that the interrupted meeting at L4 had caused some strain between SIN-ED and the Earth Forces. If the damage wasn’t repaired soon, they could lose all funds and ammo. Seeing as destroying the armies was the main target, having no fire power was going to make things quite difficult. “Jaeger, what are we missing? Is the answer slapping us in the face, but we’re just too numb to realize it?”

“Y’know, we could always just ask him.”

“Hah, yeah, that’s a great idea. I’ll just leave that to you then while I size up your coffin. Wooden or metal? Wait, would you rather be cremated?”

“He’d sooner kill you than me. I’m a little more loved than you are.”

“’Cause you’re the only chef.”

“Well, it counts for something in this world, apparently,” Stray said, walking into the kitchen to grab some salsa. Again, FS decided not to ask, but when he came back and dropped two spoonfuls into his coffee, he gagged.

“Jaeger?”

“Hm?” he wondered, licking his fingers before pouring some on a cookie and shoving it into his mouth. 

“Oh, never mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, thanks for stopping by. I realized how close I was getting to my favorite parts of the story that I got a spur of inspiration and edited this chapter. In the previous version of this chapter, I had the weaponry of the Moebius units completely wrong, so I made the battle a bit more like actual canon and tried to make it a bit easier to follow. We'll see if I succeeded... 
> 
> I toned down Eclipse a lot in these past three chapters as well. In my original, she had quite the... mental drama, we'll say. I'm going to try and ease into that more to make it a bit more realistic and more in character with her down the line. 
> 
> I also noticed I had tried switching POV a little bit in this chapter and while I kept it, I probably should've clamped down on it... I enjoyed the interjections in this chapter though so it felt a shame to take them out. Just a quick not to let you all know that I, also, know.
> 
> Let's see... Can't think of anything else to say for this chapter other than I'm finding the interactions between Eclipse and Yzak quite amusing... 
> 
> See you all next chapter and thanks for taking a moment to stop by.
> 
> Strata


	23. Where Loyalties Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Falling to Earth isn't all that it's cracked up to be...

** Where Loyalties Lie **

Falling through the Earth’s atmosphere didn’t turn out like Eclipse thought it would. Not like she believed it was going to be quick and easy, but honestly, did it have to take almost twenty straight minutes of intense heat and practically destroy her GINN too? 

It just didn’t seem fair. 

She didn’t remember landing—falling—crashing—or whatever really happened. When she awoke, her cockpit door was open and some arms in white jackets were reaching in to pull her out. At first, they didn’t look like medics—she was a little dazed—so she panicked and some flailing seemed justified. Surprisingly, after so much that had happened, Eclipse was able to throw a few good punches. 

Perhaps it was because the Berserker was still in charge.

Her strength didn’t hold out for long, however, and she was bound onto a stretcher mere minutes after her fit began. The restraints held as she pulled against them, the Berserker not enjoying its confinement, but even it knew when it was stuck and only when she felt the prick of a needle in her arm and the sweet relief of a sedative, did she start to relax.

“What about the other pilots? Have you safely secured them?” Eclipse didn’t know the voice, but based on the colors of the uniforms she had witnessed during her brief bout, ZAFT had found them.

Thank goodness.

The three of them were placed in a single aircraft while their units—or what was left of them—were put in a different carrier. Amazingly, Eclipse was the only one conscious, which surprised her at first since she knew she had most likely been given a sedative. Somehow, she had a feeling her Berserker had something to do with that, but while her mind was awake, the rest of her body had shut down. Based on the number of doctors she heard fussing around her stretcher, she was probably the most injured out of the lot. Seeing as her suit was the least able to handle atmospheric flight, that might not have been much of a surprise.

A routine breath caught in her throat, her chest filling with a burning sensation and her head throbbing with pressure. Her nose started running and a doctor swiped the liquid away, announcing a nosebleed, but somehow her pain felt numb. That was most likely the Berserker’s fault, keeping her from the brunt of the damage. Based on the growing pains in her chest, however, she would have to face and agonizing slip into unconsciousness soon.

According to the other chatter she had been hearing, Dearka was spiking a fever over 100ºF, but minor injuries other than that. However, that problem alone was causing him much grief. Delirium and chills were only two of his symptoms. 

Yzak wasn’t doing much better. He also had a fever over 100ºF and the constant sweating was stinging the still fresh wound near his right eye. The medics had tried to re-bandage it, but that required it to be cleaned out. Eclipse had never heard Yzak scream before and after what she heard that day, she didn’t want to again. When Dearka—in his delirious state—had heard the screams, his mind instantly skipped to some frightening scenario and his thrashing began again.

The flight was full of constant chaos and Eclipse was in and out of consciousness, her mind still unwilling to give out entirely. Their next days were going to be bedridden in a hospital, she knew, and despite the fact that she felt far more at ease with Athrun and Nicol than these two she was too tired to care.

As long as they survived, she was happy.

Luckily, their crash point had been relatively close to the Gibraltar base on Earth. If they had been any farther away, help probably would’ve come too late and they would probably all be dead.

The infirmary at Gibralter was crowded with doctors once they were rolled inside. Three went over to Yzak (one for his head wound and the others to help with the inspection and fever reduction) and two more over to Dearka. The boys’ fevers had gone down slightly since the beginning of their transport, but they were far from stable.

Eclipse’s problems were only just beginning as well, once they wheeled her into a different room. The Berserker had finally fled and new pains were gaining momentum by the minute. A fever of her own spiked and she blacked out for good that time. 

It was going to be a rough night.

* * *

“You’re late.”

“And always a pleasure to see you too, Pride,” Roan cooed at FS, slamming the door after him and taking off his black suit jacket. He threw it on the end of the couch along with his dress shoes, ignoring the disgusted faces of his fellow colleagues. While Stray and FS were the only ones officially assigned to the cottage, Roan—along with the remaining three Sins—often came over to have “unexpected sleepovers.” It was nothing more than late, leadership meetings that ended with Wrath, Lust, and Sloth bailing, one of the other three left sleeping on the couch, one on the floor, and one—typically Stray—raiding the fridge and coffee grounds. This meeting, however, had been planned. 

The only problem, it was scheduled to start three hours ago.

“If you say you ran into traffic you might as well kiss that head of yours goodbye,” FS threatened, leaning forward on the dining room table. 

“And he doesn’t mean the one on your shoulders,” Stray added, shoving the last bit of a bread stick into his mouth. It was almost symbolic—in a sadistic, disgusting sort of way—but still not something Roan wanted to think about.

“Where are the others?” he asked instead.

“Lust is out trying to regain connections with the Earth Forces. They said they won’t be back for a couple of days yet,” FS explained, calming down a bit. His brown hair—usually patted down—was sticking up in various directions. Two things could be blamed for that, his frustration at having to wait so long for Roan, and the fact that Stray got bored.

Nothing was safe when that happened.

“You sent Melanie and Phoebe out to reconnect? _Lust_?” 

“Well, _Envy_ , seeing as their main purpose is to make new friends, yes, I sent them out. How they do it is entirely up to them,” FS said, casting his nemesis a glare as he took the seat to his right. The two Lust girls were known for their peculiar ways of getting what they wanted. To some it may not look so strange—and some guys didn’t mind for obvious reasons—but whatever their antics, it always seemed to work. In fact, that was the reason they were elected onto the council in the first place. Being twins made things a bit more difficult—because FS couldn’t pick one over the other—but it worked to SIN-ED’s advantage in the long run. Without Lust, the brunette was sure they’d get no where with the Earth Forces.

“Trevor—well Sloth—left about two hours ago and Wrath never showed. Ironically, Sloth showed up on time. _You_ were the one late,” Stray said, shrugging slightly. “We would’ve left too, but since this is our house, there was no where else to go.” Although Trevor was named Sloth because of his personal characteristics, he was an excellent strategist. That in itself was surprising, seeing as he was the laziest of the group. Apparently, he only put his efforts into devious battle plans.

“Naturally,” Roan muttered, unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt while loosening his tie.

FS was wondering about that. “Why are you so dressed up? Just come back from prom?”

“Wrath and I were making some connections of our own.”

“Now, doesn’t that sound dirty,” Stray muttered, silencing the comment with another sip of his coffee. Wrath—formally known as Logan—not only had a quick and deadly temper, but was quite a flirt in his own right. He had called himself a “lady’s man” on many occasions and some whispers had been going around that he was also a “manly man.” 

No one decided to test those rumors.

Well, all but Stray and he was never going to tell.

“What kind of connections?” FS asked quickly, smiling devilishly from his comrade’s remark. If not his eating habits, the brunette always did like his humor. 

Roan wasn’t as amused. “Wrath and I were talking to ZAFT, if you must know.”

“What!” was the unanimous response. FS had jumped to his feet and Stray did the most unthinkable thing of dropping the cookie he was eating. Don’t worry, he quickly picked it up and shoved it in his mouth before entering the heated conversation.

“Damnit, Envy, we _agreed_ we’d only work with the Earth Forces, take out ZAFT, and _then_ go after the Naturals.”

“That’s taking too long.”

“Too long?” FS asked, disbelief covering his anger for only a moment. “We don’t have enough people to target both! We’ve barely been able to help the Earth Forces thus far. Without our soldiers, they would’ve been massacred by now and without _their_ help, we’d be just as dead. And you want to do things on our own? Ridiculous.” He sat down after the statement, ruffling his hair even more.

“Numbers aren’t everything in a war, Pride. Besides, if we make connections with ZAFT, we’ll get better weaponry and be able to pick them away from the inside. If anything, we’ll be helping the Earth Forces win more quickly.”

“Is speed all you care about? Envy, we’d be putting our own members in danger if we go that route,” FS sighed, now rubbing his forehead and the unwanted headache that was forming. This idiot was getting on his nerves. It was going to be another long night; he could tell.

“That’s the price we’ll have to pay,” Roan continued.

“No, it’s not. We vowed we wouldn’t take that risk, and that’s why we were going to stay out of the spotlight. As leaders, our first priority is to protect those we command.”

“Sure, sure, but can’t you see all the potential? We can be so much more than the destroyers of war. We can be the rulers of peace.”

“What comic book did you jump out of?” Stray spat, setting down another half-eaten cookie. “There’s no such thing as ‘rulers of peace’ because who in their right mind would go from one subjugation to another? We only know war, so by killing off others like ourselves, we’ll create an _opportunity_ for peace. No one can rule over a people he can’t understand.”

“There you go, clumping me with you guys again.” Roan rolled his eyes. “I’m not like you; I can think with something other than my pistol and I’m sure I can figure out how to rule a peaceful world.” His eyes told them he honestly believed what he was saying, but the thing was, why? At times Roan seemed more unstable then half of the SIN-ED members and he hadn’t even gone directly through the training. How could someone like that hope to run a pacifistic world?

“Hah, that’s a good one,” FS mocked, but held up a hand before anyone could continue. “But, for the sake of argument, what if I was to believe you? SIN-ED isn’t strong enough to take out both armies, shock the remaining humans into peace, and then establish a dictatorship. We don’t have that kind of power.”

“Not yet.”

Stray glared at the older member, slamming his coffee cup down on the table. “I knew it! That’s _really_ why you’re connecting with ZAFT so soon. What the hell do you want with Lexi, Roan?”

FS took a side glance at Stray, finding his outburst a surprise. Perhaps he understood more than he had been letting on. If that was the case, Roan was about to get a proper thrashing.

Stray was very protective.

“Don’t you get it yet? She’s the ultimate soldier.” Stray threw his hands up in disgust and FS took a slow breath. “No, hear me out. The myth of the Berserker is what started this whole predicament. She’s what you guys were _supposed_ to become. Why do you think De’Amelith and Januarias 4 were set up? Could you even imagine the kind of power someone could obtain with an army like that at his disposal?”

“It’s a _myth_. She’s nothing but a human being.”

“Are you so sure, Gluttony?” Roan asked, arching an eyebrow at Stray. “There’s scientific proof Berserkers aren’t just legends and I have genetic proof Lexi isn’t a mere human. Do you really want to fight me on facts? Besides, can you imagine what kind of power she could bring? And if we could find more like her? Guys, we’d be unstoppable.”

FS had to admit it sounded appealing—what kind of ultimate power isn’t?—but Roan was making a risky gamble. He was resting everything on whether or not Lexi was as “legendary” as he believed. The brunette glanced over at Stray—trying to figure out what he thought of everything—but the only clue was the chef’s fussiness with his food. Staring down at his plate, Stray was pushing a chocolate chip around instead of eating it. Not a huge hint, but enough to show he was thinking things over. FS wanted to ask, but didn’t dare while Roan was still around.

Stray had a friendlier relationship with Lexi than the brunette had, but that could have been down to a different type of tension between him and Lexi. Despite the trio’s original decision to avoid each other, they never stuck to it. Breaking the quick—but strong—friendship was harder than any of them anticipated. So, they knew Lexi’s strengths quite well, but relying completely on Roan’s claims could be dangerous. 

Stray finally glanced over at FS, but their shared look held a level of understanding that backed up Roan’s claim more than he knew.

* * *

“So, how long are we going to be stuck in here, doc?” Dearka was the first to regain consciousness, or even “come back to life” was a good enough phrase. It had been almost three days since the elites fell to Earth, but they were a long and tiring three days. Dearka’s fever had risen to extensive levels almost immediately after Eclipse had passed out. The doctors had tried everything to bring it down, but nothing was working. It had gotten so bad that everyone was convinced he would fall into a coma, but luckily that never happened. 

“Yeah, we have some work to do.” Yzak’s cut near his right eye had reopened when an attempt to restitch it went terribly wrong. One doctor had cut out the old ones and was about to start stitching when Dearka had another moment of delirium. It involved beds that were too close together and a domino effect of medics. Needless to say, some stitching needles went straight into the wound. 

“I want to keep you guys around for another day yet at least to monitor you. I realize you’re all Coordinators and bounce back quickly from injuries like this, but all of you were damn near close to death. Besides, your female comrade hasn’t awoken yet.” The older doctor looked tired and he covered a yawn with his clipboard. If it wasn’t for that fact the boys might have complained again. 

Even they can be sympathetic sometimes.

One of the other doctors had explained what had happened starting from when they were found and ending with them sitting in hospital beds. While the doctors weren’t giving them the full extent of her injuries, a GINN was never going to survive falling to Earth and that meant the likelihood of the pilot inside coming out remotely unscathed was near on impossible. She was alive though, and despite the minimum interaction they had had with her prior to the battle, she had been good support in the fight with the 8th fleet and that was good enough for them.

“When do you think she’ll wake up?” Yzak asked, absently pulling at the bandage on his face. He really wanted it off.

“Yesterday I would’ve said `Any time now,’ but since it’s been so long, I’m not quite sure anymore. Her machine wasn’t meant for that descent, which is probably why it’s nothing but scrap metal now. I guess I’m also surprised she even came out alive let along with minor injuries compared to anyone else in a similar situation. She still has a high fever, a concussion, four bruised ribs, and a sprained wrist. Considering the circumstances, she’s lucky to be alive.” The doctor paused, hiding another yawn behind one hand. “Now, my shift is up and I’m handing your cases over to my colleagues. They’ll come and get you if she wakes up while I’m gone, but for now, you two get more rest. Elsman, I’ll help you to your room.” No matter how well Dearka had been looking as he sat there on the bed, once he accepted help, Yzak knew things weren’t going too well. The blond was one of the most stubborn people he knew.

“Dearka, you sure you’re—”

“Oh, stop fussing, Yzak. Go to sleep.”

* * *

Eclipse awoke with a start, Greed’s smile and laughter fading from her mind. Thankfully—or mercifully—she didn’t remember the extent of the dream, only the panicked feeling she had in her chest. _Monster_. How was she even alive? She couldn’t believe it. A GINN is not meant for atmospheric entry and despite the many bruises, some pain and weight in her chest, and a throbbing head she felt relatively fine. _Fine_. That just wasn’t possible.

Her breath quickened. Did it have something to do with what she apparently was? Was this just another perk? Greed’s smile was there again and she shook her head to dislodge the memory, instantly regretting the move when the throbbing returned.

She was in a hospital bed, she knew, and in her own room by the sounds of it. One machine was beeping off to her left and it sounded like a busy hallway was to her right behind a closed door. The lights were blinding—those damn, bright appliances that seemed to burn a hole directly through to the brain, instead of stopping at the retinas. They made her headache worse and her right hand went up to soothe her forehead, but stopped short, a sharp pain coursing through her arm from her wrist to her shoulder. She cursed.

“Ah, good, you’re awake,” a nurse said, having just walked into the room. Either her vitals had given some indication she was awake, or that curse had been far louder than Eclipse had intended. The nurse put a soft hand on Eclipse’s bandaged wrist, straightening it and slipping a pillow underneath to ease the pain. The redhead was thankful, but she was still in rough shape she knew, if the pain in her chest every time she breathed was any indication.

“Where am I?” she asked breathlessly a moment later, the nurse having walked over to her left side to check the IV.

“You and the two other elites are at the Gibraltar base,” she said, helping Eclipse sit up further on the bed. She poured her a gulp or two of water in a cup and handed it to the redhead who offered a small thanks. “I won’t go into the details, but you’re lucky to be alive and in our care.”

 _Sounds about right,_ Eclipse thought, drinking the water. _Considering what was going on at the time, we’re lucky we didn’t fall into the ocean or something. Hell, we’re lucky we fell in one piece and in ally territory._

“Is there anything else you need before I get the doctor?” the nurse asked.

“Just something for this headache…” she muttered after the nurse took her water glass. The free hand went immediate to her forehead to massage the pain away.

“I want the doctor to look at you first and then we’ll give you more pain medication. I’ll get him now.”

The doctor walked in a few moments later, folding a few pages over on his clipboard. It had been another day since his talk with Yzak and Dearka, so he had finally gotten a chance to get a decent amount of rest. Well, sort of. Dearka ended up having an allergic reaction to his medication earlier that morning. Everything cleared up within an hour and both redcoats—Yzak was worried sick, though he would never admit it—were finally resting once again. “How’re you feeling?” he asked, pulling up a chair next to the bed.

“Is ‘like shit’ an appropriate answer?” she muttered, still massaging her forehead. “Head hurts, among other things, and I think the room is spinning a little.”

“You had a concussion so the dizziness is to be expected as well as the headache. I’ll have the nurse give you something.” He flipped to a different page on his clipboard and sighed. “You’re lucky to be alive, you know that? If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was a miracle.”

“So I’ve been told,” Eclipse muttered, but said nothing further. What could she say? She didn’t understand it herself.

“Your wounds seem to be healing quite nicely as well, though you might have trouble taking deep breaths for the next few days. You’re reacting well to the steroids, but some of the other medications I had prescribed don’t seem to be working as planned…” he muttered, Eclipse wondering if that sentence was meant for her or for the doctor alone. “I think that is the reason your fever lasted so long,” he concluded at last. “Though there are even some things in medicine I do not understand.” He smiled lightly and put the clipboard down across her knees as his hands went to examine her wrist. “Your wrist is only sprained and I have braced it for now. There is no need for a cast, but you’ll have to take it easy on that as well and I’ll give you some strengthening exercises to do once the pain and swelling going down a bit more.”

She nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks. How long will I be unable to use it?”

“Usually I would say a couple of weeks, but it sometimes depends on the patient. I’d advise not doing anything strenuous for a bit, though soldiers of your caliber might not have the luxury of taking my advice.”

“I’ll do what I can,” she replied with a shrug.

“Right, I need to test its mobility now that you’re awake. It’s gonna hurt, but please try to relax as much as you can.”

Hah, she was stuck in a medical bay with an older doctor fondling one of her appendages, back on Earth with no way of returning to outer space, and stuck with the two hotheads of the Le Creuset team. 

_Yeah, relax, that’s a good one._

* * *

It was about another hour and a half after the examination before Eclipse was surprised with two visitors. Dearka still looked a bit shaky and if Yzak’s worried look at him every few seconds was any indication, he probably shouldn’t have been out of bed. The two of them were wearing hospital scrubs instead of matching her gowned appearance, but even she was too tired to be embarrassed. They both greeted her and Yzak pulled up a chair while Dearka sat on the end of her bed. She was still propped up against the headboard with pillows, her wrist resting comfortably in her lap and medications lulling her into a nice semi-reality of painless existence. Dearka had no bandages that she could see, but the color of his skin said it all. He just looked ill and weak; not something she was used to seeing. Yzak had fresh bandages across the cut on his face, but otherwise seemed to be the healthiest of the trio. His motherly looks over at Dearka had extended to her own condition as well, but she shrugged off the look.

They would all live.

“Heard anything from the commander yet?” she asked, hoping a conversation would ease the blooming tension in the room.

“Not a damn thing,” Yzak grumbled.

“Relax, I’m pretty sure he just found out we’re all still alive,” Dearka said with a weary sigh. 

“But it’s already been four days! Don’t you think he would’ve asked about our condition by now?”

“He’s probably been updated already plenty of times, but seeing as I just had my final assessment, he’ll be able to get the full report,” Eclipse said, wincing as she took too deep of a breath. She did take some solace in the gesture, however, realizing the pain wasn’t as intense at it had been before. Either her medication was working as intended or she was healing quickly. Probably the former reason, but Eclipse was hoping for the latter. They slipped into another tense silence and Eclipse sighed. They were all nervous, and probably all for various reasons, but one thing was certain, they wouldn’t be heading back to space any time soon. “On a different note,” she began. “How do you guys like Earth?”

“When did you become so conversational?” Yzak grumbled, but Dearka just sighed.

“She’s asking ‘cause we’re probably going to be stuck here for a while.”

“And when did you two start developing a mind link?”

“When you started being an ass and there was no other choice,” the blond countered. Eclipse just blinked and watched them. It was common sense the Duel pilot had a temper, but she never knew Dearka to get heated as well and especially at Yzak. Seeing as they had known each other for a long time, it seemed reasonable he had to offset Yzak’s anger somehow, but she had only seen him do this when it involved the other team members. They were definitely all on edge if even these two were sniping at each other.

“How can I not ‘be an ass’ when we’re stuck in a hospital bed, waiting for orders, there’s this damn bandage on my face, and the St—”

“ _Please_ don’t talk about the Strike,” Eclipse groaned, cutting the rant short and resting her head back against the headboard. “We _know_ he’s here on Earth, we _know_ we failed in destroying him, and we _know_ you blame him for everything. Let’s just have that understanding, okay?”

Her interruption surprised both of them, but her condition warranted a little sassiness, even if to them it might have seemed out of character. She was about to say something more to break the strange silence that followed, but Dearka beat her to it.

“Yeah, we can’t forget we failed either. The commander’s probably getting an ear full back at headquarters while we sit here ignoring our humiliation.”

“Maybe we should be _happy_ we fell here. At least we’ll get another chance, I suppose,” Yzak added, fiddling with the bandages around his chin. “Though, that might be more hopeful thinking than anything. If I was the commander, I’d have kicked us off the mission a long time ago. With so many screw-ups, it’d be more beneficial to try another squad and their tricks instead of continuing to rely on our old ones.”

“We did take out most of the 8th Lunar Fleet though,” Eclipse replied quietly. “Surely that must count for something?”

“There _is_ that, I suppose,” Yzak grumbled, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest.

“I guess it depends on what part of our contribution matters more: destroying the Strike and the ‘Legged Ship,’ or chipping away at the Earth Alliance forces. I mean, _we_ have the other prototypes and I don’t know of any other machines or pilots yet who might be up to the task of taking on that ship.”

“The Strike pilot’s not _that_ good,” Yzak spat and the remaining two sighed. Despite their accomplishments in space, they couldn’t help but feel they were still a losing team.

And who in their right mind would keep a losing line-up in the game?

* * *

Roan had left almost 45 minutes ago, but still Stray still hadn’t said a word. In fact, he hadn’t moved. The chocolate chip was still being wordlessly tossed about the plate and its puppet master watching it tumbled. The silence was deafening. If FS hadn’t been lost in his own thoughts, me might’ve picked up the chip, eaten it, and then thrown the plate at Stray’s head. 

“What d’we do?” the chef finally asked.

His comrade sighed, hoping he was going to ask a different question like, “Did you want more coffee?” That one he could’ve answered. “To be honest, I’m not really surprised by what he had to say, just didn’t think he’d be so reckless about it. He’s treating her like a god.”

“Goddess.”

“Whatever; the point is, if she comes over to our side, and he gets a hold of her first, his delusional self will end up getting her killed.”

“I don’t want Lexi to die.” The phrase came out deadpan, as if he was just stating some fact and no questioning was allowed. For Stray, it was a bit strange. Usually he said things light-heartedly or at least added in a smile. Now he was straight-faced, narrow-eyed, and quite intimidating. Him stabbing the chocolate piece over and over only reinforced FS’s fears.

“What should we do about it then?” the brunette asked, honestly wanting to hear his answer. While Stray may not say much in everyday conversation, when he did say something, FS usually paid attention. 

At least when it wasn’t about food.

“How deep in shit are we?” the chef asked.

“How well can you swim?”

“Honestly, I sink, but we’re not talking about water. Say we stopped Envy before he does anything rash, what’re the odds people will think we didn’t do it?”

“86 to 1.”

“86 to 1?”

FS nodded, a wry grin on his lips. “There’s 86 in SIN-ED right now, not counting Envy and the six other who would be with him. If they blamed you, I’d say no and the others would say yes. If they blamed me, you’d say no and the others would say yes.”

“You’re sure I’d say no?”

“Jaeger….”

“Yeah, you’re right; I might be a good mood,” Stray said, adding the bubbliness his last statements had been lacking. It could have been the small prospect of Eclipse joining them that lifted his mood, but FS figured it wasn’t.

“Glad to know I still have someone I can trust.”

“So, you think we can go through with it then? Set him up?”

“Did you find anything more on Gilbert Durandal and Muruta Azrael?”

“Hm,” Stray began, leaning back in his chair and wiggling the fork between his front teeth. How that made him think better FS had no idea. “There wasn’t much on Durandal, only that he’s a genetics scientist in the PLANTS. He doesn’t seem to have much association with the military, but I think he has some connections on the Supreme Council. Azrael, on the other hand, happens to be the leader of Blue Cosmos.”

“The group of Coordinator haters?”

Stray nodded. “That’s the one, but they’ve been becoming quite powerful lately.”

“How powerful?”

“Perhaps powerful enough to send an assassin after a lowly group like SIN-ED, you mean?”

They both smiled before Stray got up and grabbed two more chocolate cookies from the counter. He was about to come back to the table when he stopped, snapped his fingers and opened the freezer. Pulling out a bucket of vanilla ice cream, he plopped a scoop between the cookies. He smashed them tightly together and walked back to FS.

“Not gonna lie,” the brunette started. “That actually looks good. Mind if I have a bite?” Stray nodded and handed him the sandwich, licking the melting ice cream off his fingers. FS examined it quickly, making sure he hadn’t put anything... unfamiliar in the mixture. Satisfied, he chomped down. _What the hell?_ he thought and spit it onto the table. He looked around for something, anything and ended up grabbing the only thing within reaching distance, a tissue. 

Using the tissue to wipe off his tongue, the brunette glared as Stray cocked his head to the side and glanced down at the food in his hand. “What, you don’t like it?”

“What did you put in that? I watched you make it. How the hell did vinegar get in there?”

“Vinegar? Oh, I didn’t like the taste of the vanilla ice cream, so I added some vinegar.”

“To the whole tub?”

“Uh-huh,” Stray nodded, shoving the rest of the dessert into his mouth.

“Thanks for the warning,” FS grumbled, crumbling up the napkin and throwing it at his comrade before rising from his seat to leave him and his delicacies behind. Sighing, FS shook his head before closing his bedroom door only to find himself gagging when the chef announced he was going to have another one. _I need a new housemate._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, another day, another chapter. I know I'm putting these up rather quickly, but I'm just so keen to get to the later parts of this book that I've been having spurts of editing inspiration. The past couple of chapters have been closer to my current writing style as well, so the edits aren't taking as long as they used to. I'm taking out a lot of stupid filler things and updating the dialogue a bit so I don't facepalm too much, but other than that, not a lot of things to deal with, especially in this chapter. The longest chapters to deal with are the battle ones by far, so if it takes a while for a chapter to come out, that's probably the reason. 
> 
> Let's see... I enjoyed the camaraderie in this chapter and despite the tension I think these three work well together in their own way. But, perhaps, that is just the all-knowing author eye of mine... They do have similar temperaments though, which might be a problem in the future.
> 
> Anyway, onward and upward towards my favorite parts in SEED. Quick thank you to anyone who is reading. I hope you're enjoying the story so far.
> 
> Strata


	24. Broadside of a Barn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Straight out of the hospital and already on the way to a new location. But, before that, perhaps some team bonding?

** Broadside of a Barn **

Eclipse wasn’t there for the transmission from the commander. She had been in contact with Dearka and Yzak when they got the announcement, but she was already on the other side of the base by that time and Le Creuset’s time was limited. He let it slide that time. Her teammates had the nerve to say she was chickening out, but there wasn’t much force behind the accusation. It could’ve been because the commander was in the background, or perhaps they were finally getting along. Life and death situations do that to people—after all, weren’t FS, Stray, and Eclipse the perfect example?—but the redhead figured this was a friendship formed out of necessity. At the moment, they were all each other had.

Actually, part of that confused her. If she hadn’t fallen with them, she was sure Yzak and Dearka would get along fine. It could’ve been the stress of everything going on, but lately—meaning over the past day or so while she was still bedridden—they were each coming in to see her individually. Dearka was understandable because Yzak had been crankier than normal lately, but the Duel pilot’s visits had been a mystery. He seemed far more serious than normal, which made her think that something other than the Strike was actually on his mind, but she never breached the topic. He did abruptly turn off the television and walk out one time when a news report came on concerning their rather dramatic entrance onto Earth, but there was nothing specific in the report, which made his reaction even more interesting.

“I’m sorry—Lunar Eclipse was it?—your GINN was practically scrap metal by the time we got our hands on it,” the main mechanic explained. “The parts have been recycled and fitted to other machines, so if you wanted to say a proper farewell you’re gonna have to stop at six other hangars.” He looked a little young to be a main mechanic, but if Eclipse learned anything by now it was not to underestimate them. It took a lot of effort and skill to do so much and yet never be rewarded so age usually had nothing to do with how well a person could fix a machine. Watching him tug on the collar of his bright green mechanic suit, Eclipse couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. She didn’t enjoy wearing those stuffy things in outer space and at least up there the temperatures were consistent and not changing on an hour-by-hour basis. She was so happy she had the elite uniform now.

The redhead sighed in response to his comments. She figured her GINN would be nonexistent after what had happened, but she thought she would try the "optimism" thing again. The mechanic went on to talk about some new mobile suits being built in the PLANTs, but Eclipse had stopped listening. 

What the hell was she supposed to do now?

The obvious answer was to get another mobile suit, but judging by what happened to her other one, she felt like she would just be endlessly cycling though machines. Her reckless abandon with her GINN seemed more like a foreshadowing than a fluke. At the time, following Yzak and Dearka into the atmosphere seemed like the right course of action despite the repercussions. Why?

Partly to help the _Gamow_ and partly because of the thrill.

For a few moments, Eclipse had to admit, she was beginning to like her other half. How could she not? It had saved her ass now plenty of times and she was earning the respect of her teammates, so what wasn't there to like? Well, Greed's remarks and the insinuation of her monsterhood might be a reason to be cautious, but she had to admit it was just plain reckless. Not stupid, because it was downright helpful on the battlefield, but reckless. If she was in her normal frame of mind, she didn’t think she would’ve fallen to Earth. After all, weren’t Athrun and Nicol the nice teammates? Why would she want to cause herself more distress by joining the angry duo? 

Well, now she was stuck with nowhere to turn.

Almost.

Eclipse surprised herself with how often she thought of the offer Stray and FS gave. She could go to them and leave everyone behind without so much as a letter of apology, so then why was she hesitating? Those two meant everything to her, despite their insanity. In fact, was she any different? They were always at her side and went so far as to comfort her for killing MR. He was a personal friend of theirs and they worried about her.

“Hello, anyone there?” the mechanic asked, waving a hand in front of her face to stress the point. Eclipse blinked, turned, saluted, and then walked out without another word. “Tch,” she heard the mechanic say, but just rolled her eyes.

Eclipse left the hangar and ventured back towards the base. She had been released from the hospital late the day before, so she was enjoying the first breath of daytime air she had had in almost a week. Then again, saying a military base was a good place for that outdoorsy scent wasn’t accurate either. Since the base was situated near the Atlantic Ocean, the fresh fragrance sometimes made it through the base, but because the hospital—as well as the hangar Eclipse was investigating—was situated near the rear, the only thing that could be smelled there was burning metal, car fumes, and the constant hint of human sweat. Being in a secluded facility with 29 other men, the redhead had gotten used to the salty smell—even when it radiated from her own body—but never learned to enjoy it.

Yzak and Dearka were driving in her direction and she saw Dearka wave, returning the gesture to let them know she had seen. She had yet to see them that day, knowing they had both been released from the hospital days before her. She stopped to wait for them to come closer. 

The blonde was driving a small, military jeep with Yzak slouched in the passenger seat. He didn’t look happy to be there, but then again, the Duel pilot hadn’t been happy at all lately.

Surprise, surprise.

Calling the jeep small was almost giving it too much justice. It was an olive green color with no doors or roof. The front seats were relatively roomy, but since the back seat was made mostly for equipment, it was short and leaving no space for a tall individual to do anything more than crawl up into a ball. Ideal for grabbing weaponry quickly, but terrible for picking up friends on a Friday night.

"Glad to see you on your feet," Dearka said when they were next to her.

"Glad to be on them."

“I’m surprised you skipped out on the meeting,” Yzak noted. Apparently, he felt the need to bring it up even though he knew Le Creuset let her stay put and get the information later. “You act like someone who follows the rule book rather closely.” His bandage was off—which should’ve put him in a better mood—but somehow Eclipse doubted a doctor approved of it. His scowl as she looked at it only confirmed her suspicions, but she kept her mouth shut.

The phrase, “Well, you don’t follow them either,” didn’t seem like a smart move at the time.

“You guys just came out to check up on me, or is there something important you had to say?” Eclipse asked.

“Did you want to hear what the commander had to say, or not? Hop on.” It was Dearka who said it, but there was a bit of sharpness to the comment. Eclipse just shrugged, wondering what had angered him so quickly, but jumped into the back when his head flicked backwards for her to get in. Not enjoying the prospect of curling into a ball, she sat up on the trunk and put her feet down onto the seats. Yzak looked down at her boots and back at her, but rolled his eyes when she shrugged. 

Eclipse liked that he stayed quiet, grabbing onto the back of the seats when Dearka took off quicker than she expected. “Well? What’s the news? We’re stuck here, I take it.”

Yzak nodded, sitting a bit straighter in his seat when they passed in the more congested area of the base. He didn’t want to look sloppy in front of so many captains. “He wants us to help out the occupational forces here on Earth. Knowing the ‘Legged Ship’ is around here somewhere, it makes sense, but, damnit all, I hate the Earth.” 

“At least this means you get another shot at the Strike. Stop being so peevish and be happy about that at least,” the blond grumbled, slamming on the brakes when a couple of off-duty greencoats stepped in the way. Eclipse flew forward—luckily bracing her feet up on the front seat just in time—Dearka sighed, and Yzak let loose some interesting dialogue. Him and the soldiers argued for a few more moments before the blond got bored and took off. “We’re going to check on the Duel and Buster,” Dearka shouted, trying to outmatch Yzak’s string of threats. “You might get bored, so did you want me to drop you off somewhere else?”

"Maybe I should see if they need my help," she started, not quite sure her musings were loud enough, but their responses proved they had heard.

"You're _not_ a mechanic anymore. You're a pilot now, for fuck's sake," Yzak spat.

Dearka sighed, but his sentiment was the same. "The prototypes have been around long enough and schematics have been shared around, I'm sure. You're not the only one to understand them anymore, so let the others do their jobs."

Eclipse made a sour face at the reprimands, but bit her tongue. She really had no ammo to argue with. They sat in silence for a moment, Eclipse thinking they were going to say more about their predicament. “So that’s all the commander had to say? We’re stuck here waiting for further orders?” The car had slowed down considerably by that time. Either Dearka didn’t want to hit anyone, or he didn’t want Yzak to end up in another shouting match. 

The redhead was betting on both.

“It wasn’t a long transmission,” Dearka explained. “The commander said, if we got the chance, we could take out both the ‘Legged-Ship’ and the Strike, but, like you said, we’re stuck here being lap dogs.”

“Sounds like fun,” Eclipse grumbled.

“It’ll be downright boring.” Yzak had regained his sulking posture and stared off to his right.

The remaining redcoats decided not to press the matter and grew quiet themselves. The Duel pilot had a point.

Earth was going to be terribly dull.

* * *

They decided to drop Eclipse off at the shooting range. She couldn’t recall which one had the “bright idea,” but she didn’t really have a say in the matter. The last thing she remembered was sitting in the back daydreaming as Dearka avoided more careless military personnel. Or were they the ones being careless? Eclipse never knew the blond to be a speed demon, but maybe it was just because he was in a bad mood. 

“We’ll contact you if anything new comes up,” Yzak had said before they sped off, forgetting the redhead wasn’t wearing anything they could communicate with anyway.

“Whatever,” she muttered and walked inside the building.

It was pretty big—bigger than a mobile suit hangar—but more high-tech than she had seen at a military base. Usually places like this were reserved for training facilities and yet here she was, standing amid some newbies in a line just waiting to get to the shooting range. Being all electronic, it was no surprise when Eclipse glanced over at the trainees to see them firing fake rounds at computer screens. The screens changed distance and size—which made things a bit harder—and, by the looks of things, would increase or decrease its challenge level depending on the soldier’s score. Effective, to say the least, but by glancing at the line, Eclipse couldn’t help but sigh. This looked more like an amusement park rather than a place where people learn to kill others. 

Ironic really.

“Aw, Shana, you couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn,” a greencoat three spots ahead of her chided to the brunette standing next to him. He looked to be no older than fifteen with black hair and an athletic build. There were two other boys standing next to him, and if Eclipse didn’t know any better, she would have said they were triplets. “Hell, I’ve never seen you get higher than a 20 percent hitting rate.”

“Hey, that’s not fair, Breck. I’ve hit the target plenty of times. Besides, I’d whip your ass in the simulations any day,” the girl said, elbowing the blonde next to her and forcing a nod out of her too. 

“Wanna bet? I’ve never lost in that thing, right Caleb? Erick?” The two other boys didn’t seem as enthused about Breck’s statement, but nodded anyway. Most likely they were the ones he beat.

“Probably because you’ve only been challenging weaklings. Why not give it a try with us? We’d definitely give you a run for your money.” It was Shana’s friend who made the declaration and the one thing that impressed the redhead the most was her confidence. The blonde looked to be half the height of Breck and even less than half his weight. Eclipse knew not to judge people based on appearance, but for as young as these five were, they hadn’t had enough battle experience to be given such respect.

“Well, aren’t you a little smartass,” Erick, presumably, said and the girls just laughed.

 _This is ridiculous. Why am I stuck behind such children?_ the redhead thought, deciding to look somewhere else. 

At least until the boy behind her joined into their conversation. “Why not put these two sissy girls in their place, Breck? Ten minutes in they’ll probably start crying from a broken fingernail. This is why they shouldn’t even allow girls to carry guns.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Eclipse asked, for the first time not even thinking before she opened her mouth. Damnit. She almost slapped herself for interfering, but held back. It wouldn’t have helped anyway.

The boy blinked, as if just realizing he was standing so close to one of his superiors. Running a nervous hand through his orange hair, he tried make up for the mistake. Too bad this particular elite didn’t give out forgiveness so easily. “Oh—uh—sorry, ma’am. I meant no offense of course. It’s just that—"

“Just what, Shane?” Shana stepped in, coming over to stand in front of the youth. If her friend was short, this brunette definitely wasn’t. She came up to about his nose, but was built for hand-to-hand combat. Broad—almost manly—shoulder and calloused hands proved that, however, there was something she lacked, the redhead noted. Shana may have been issuing all of those threats, but really she didn’t have the courage to back them up. That was obvious by her quick anger, weak stance, and trembling eyes. If Shane would’ve been paying close attention he probably could have seen it too. 

“Forget it. Why don’t we just decide who the real ‘tough guy’ is around here?” Caleb suggested from up ahead. “Us three guys verses you three girls.”

“What?” Eclipse blurted, not remembering when she volunteered for this stupid match. “I refuse to be a part of this.”

“Yeah, we don’t need her anyway,” the blonde said. “Redcoats always think they’re too good to hang out with us, lowly greencoats.”

“Rika!” Shana tried to call her back, but ended up chasing her in the end. Caleb, Erick, Shane and Breck turned to redhead and glowered. Apparently, they were all thinking the same thing, but all Eclipse wanted to know was when this turned into a war between ranks.

“So, what’cha think, elite? You too _important_ to train with us?” Shane asked, looking to be the hothead of the group. Honestly, the redhead didn’t give a damn about ranks. After all, she may have a red uniform, but, if ordered, she would still go fetch coffee for the nearest commander. The only place ranks mattered was on the battlefield and since they were at a mere shooting range, she didn’t think they applied. Why, then, were they getting so bent out of shape? 

“She’s probably afraid we’d show her up,” Breck said and began walking away. His flunkies followed a second later, but Eclipse wasn’t about to let them off that easily.

“Frankly boys, I wouldn’t care if you defeated me in a silly game. Not only would that prove I have a soft spot for underdogs, but when real soldiers start shooting, I know I won’t be running for the nearest bed to hide under. You guys are fresh out of the nursery and have no idea what you’re even attempting to brag about. But what the hell, I’ll humor you for the time being.” The greencoats looked angry at first, but it soon shifted to misplaced confidence. Sure, Eclipse would probably regret the decision later on—and as she massaged her right wrist she knew she would—but for the time being she wanted to savor her impending victory. 

It had been a long time since she had so much… innocent fun.

* * *

It sounded like a good idea at the time. Hell, who wouldn’t want to embarrass six greencoats? Neither Shana nor Rika had talked to her when she arrived in the locker room, but Eclipse didn’t care. If she was there to make friends she wouldn’t be trying to shoot their heads off at the local training facility.

Then again, maybe she would.

The match was to be a battle royale between six new soldiers and one elite. Being a royale, people probably would’ve betted on the redcoat winning, but since the greencoats would probably team up against her, the smart gamblers wouldn’t merely decide on uniforms alone.

It was a new facility, so the technology was top-notch. Each player—made it sound more like a game than actually training—was ordered to wear a special outfit. They looked a lot like the pilot suits worn for mobile suit fights—helmet included—but there were a few kickers that made Eclipse glad she didn’t have to wear them for missions. The suits were designed to stimulate real battle experience. When a person was hit—by splattering bullets from an enemy’s (or even an ally’s) pistol—the area would gradually grow heavy depending on the severity of the wound. So, if a person was shot in the thigh, the weight of his leg would escalate and slow him down to a mere crawl. The same could be said for an arm wound, foot, side, and so on. Only two shots were considered instant kills; a head shot and one to the heart.

Pretty much it was advanced paintball.

There were three terrains to choose from, city, forest, and desert, depending on how adventurous the trainees wanted to be. The whole ordeal was quite lifelike and even the weather was unpredictable. However, Eclipse had to wonder how much the whole thing cost the military. After all, one, well-placed attack and the building would be history. Sounded like a waste when put that way, but oh well, it wasn’t her problem.

Fitting a glove over her right hand, she couldn’t help but wince. It was going to be a long fight if she couldn’t rely on her dominant arm. “Hey, I hope you’re up for this,” Rika commented from the other side of the locker room. Oh yay, they were speaking to her again. “Even though you’re a girl, we’re not going to spare ya.”

“You’d be stupid if you did. Besides, we’re all against each other in this one. If you want to make teams, fine, but know it’s not my fault if you get hit by friendly fire.”

“Strange,” Shana began. “Advice from a redcoat?”

“I don’t know what made you hate my rank so much, but I’m really getting tired of everyone I meet having some kind of misplaced grudge against me. Be mad at the person you’re supposed to. Don’t just shove it on me because it’s of convenience to you,” Eclipse said and grabbed a helmet. They didn’t say anything more and just followed her into the arena.

Hearing the door shut behind her, Eclipse had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t going insane—at least not yet. A cityscape stretched out in front of her, so close to the real thing she almost ran over to the nearest coffee shop and asked for a latte. The three girls stood in the northeast corner, at what seemed to be an on ramp to a highway. A short, cement wall separated the ramp from a small expanse of grass, complete with dandelions and unwanted trash. Another street—running parallel to the highway—marked the beginning of town. There were three cars parked on the side and one sticking out of an ally at the furthest corner of the arena. _I wonder if they drive,_ Eclipse thought, but shook it off. She wouldn’t be able to do anything with them even if they could; the place was too crowded. Off to the girls’ right was a park with a collection of real trees making it look more like the forest terrain than the city one. _Impressive._

The four other competitors walked out moments later as the supervisor went over some basic rules and equipment. They were each given three clips with 15 shots each, and one semi-automatic pistol, enough to last against an enemy four times this size, but the redhead wasn’t going to argue.

It just meant she could go a little crazy was all.

Special transmitters were slipped over the glove of their non-dominant hand, indicating how many were “dead” on the field. It seemed a bit foolish to have such a device, especially since this “game” was supposed to train soldiers for such situations. They weren’t always going to know who was down and usually never had any idea how many they were up against. Well, teach them one thing at a time, apparently.

“You’ll have a two minute grace period where you can get into position,” the instructor explained, walking out as he did. “And that time starts now.”

“Good luck, halfwits,” Breck said and ran off towards the park. 

The others said a loud “Hah!” before looking for their own cover. Eclipse sighed, shrugged and walked away. If anything, she’d get a chance to see where most of the others ended up, so why waste energy running? 

There really wasn’t much to choose from. Two had already fled into the park, so she didn’t want to go there and three, she knew, had stuck around in the city. Two were collaborating by the nearest parked car, one stayed next to the entrance, but the last one was unknown. 

Perhaps someone did know what he—or she—was doing.

 _This place is as good as any,_ Eclipse thought, ducking down next to the farthest car. A wall was to her back and her peripheral vision was good enough to cover her sides, so all she really had to worry about was an attack from above and from below. If they came at her from above, they’d have a hell of a time climbing over the vehicle, so she’d still have enough leeway to turn and kill them first. If they came at her by crawling under the car, she would just shoot the tires. 

See, good enough.

The grace period ended a moment later, alerting the troops with a bell loud enough to make any nervous soldier jump. A gun went off once the sound died away, and—thinking it was just a reaction from being so on edge—she was surprised to hear a counter attack. _Damn, they’re just going right at it, aren’t they?_ Eclipse thought, smirking to herself when she heard a player go down. It sounded like Shana and she wasn’t too happy about the shot either. The redhead doubted there could be cheating with an advanced system like this one, but there was always a possibility. Either that or she had just become a victim of a tag team. 

Originally, Eclipse had planned on just waiting until the others got so restless and took each other out, but not only would that be terribly boring on her end, one of her opponents didn’t seem to like the idea either. A gun fired nearby and judging by the sound, it was pointed in her direction. Eclipse wasn’t sure why he—or she since there was still one left—fired so recklessly, but when she looked around, she suspected his reasoning. Hiding behind a car was turning into a really bad idea. Not only was there nothing else nearby for her to run to, but if she blew her cover now, the others would be right on top of her. Her enemy fired again, proving he was walking towards her without caring about the other players. Then again, they probably weren’t shooting him on purpose.

So she was being ganged up on too.

Weighing her options, she found she really only had a few. She could blow her cover and pray no one shot her before she got all of them, or be inventive. Eclipse decided on the latter. Noticing how loose the hubcap was behind her back, she took a few seconds to pry it off. The shooter was—judging by the sound of his shoes and how loud the gunfire was—about 10 meters away. It was a safe enough distance to feel comfortable, but the redhead had no idea where her other enemies were. Cursing silently, she finally pried the hubcap off and scooted towards the front of the car. 

Eclipse could now see the helmet of her adversary. A few more steps and she would be in his view, but she planned on knocking him off before then. Clenching the hubcap to her stomach, she steadied herself. _Let’s see. If he’s coming from my right, then there’s got to be at least one more to my left, probably at 10 o’clock. That guy’s waiting for me to jump up and shoot this lunatic, so I’ll avoid that,_ she thought and inched around towards the front of the car. _Let’s try this._ Curling the hubcap in her left hand, she let it fly—kind of like a Frisbee—at the approaching soldier. She was exposed for a few seconds, but not enough time for anyone to get off a shot. Her plan worked well and she knocked down the assailant amid some colorful words. _His knee is going to hurt for a while._ Smiling, she rounded the car from the front, running parallel to the downed man. His partner, however, had a quicker trigger finger than anticipated and she only managed to fire a bullet into the right bicep of the downed soldier before heading towards the park. She slipped behind the marble fountain, ignoring the naked man shooting water from, well, an inappropriate spot. As far as she knew, only one was out and another now had a serious disadvantage. That meant four were still at full strength. _And one could have me in his sights right now,_ she remembered and fled towards a more congested area of the park about 18 feet away. 

Eclipse couldn’t decide whether to applaud the terrain designers or slap them. At the moment, congratulations seemed to be in order, but no matter how hard she looked at it, six, seven-foot tall—and pointy at that—bushes spaced evenly apart seemed like way too much effort for a simulation. It was right up there with the inappropriate fountain and the fact that it was actually functional. However, the redhead decided to forget the criticism and ducked behind one of the bushes. It wasn’t the greatest cover, but being on the outskirts of the arena, it was as good as she was going to get for a while.

She had a building at her back and the fountain in front of her, the rest of the expanse in between filled with grass. Her current cover wasn't solid enough to make her feel comfortable and checking her wristband, she saw there were three, red buttons lit up, indicating three “dead” on the field. _Halfway there. Thank goodness there’s a scavenger shooter here otherwise I’d be surrounded by greencoats by now,_ she thought and adjusted her grip on her pistol when she heard movement. A man was making a break across the grassed expanse at the other end of the bushes. It was an odd move because not only did he have a shot at her over by the fountain, but he might have seen her run to the bushes and might have even gambled a sprint down the line of trees to her position instead of across the long, coverless expanse. It looked fishy and she crouched, aiming at him through a thin part of the branches. 

Running a little faster than she anticipated, the redhead only managed to clip his left shoulder, but that was enough to send him scrambling to the ground. Having such a good sniping position for the kill, one more shot took him out of the game, however, her antics had alerted another player to her whereabouts, which might have been the plan all along. A bullet passed through the bush and over her head, a strong possibility of hitting her if she had been standing. It was the soldier with the wounded right bicep and he had to break cover for the shot. He was a good shot with his left hand then, which surprised her as much as it made her frown. She saw him on the further corner of the park, just around the fountain and took the risk.

He was moving back into cover around the fountain and she would lose any shot she might have if he managed to hide once more. Leaping, she ducked into a forward roll, ending in a crouch and firing off a shot before he had a chance to hide. Her aim was off, however, the bullet landing in his left hip for a crippling, but not deadly blow. He buckled and fell onto his stomach, Eclipse standing and sprinting towards and then past him as she put one bullet into his back and ran to the other side of the park behind and across the street into a narrow alleyway to crouch between some bins. 

One left. 

While it may have been a good thing there was only one left, how the hell was she supposed to find him? She had no leads as to his position and if he survived this long, he wouldn’t just pop out and say, “Here I am!”

A pity, really.

Should she make the first move? It was tempting since she was positive she would be able to avoid any fatal blows, but she didn’t want to be stuck with a bum leg. A hit to the arm would’ve been fine—because she’d just use her left hand—however, her Berserker half was supposed to be the reckless one, not her normal self. Thank goodness she hadn’t switched over either. Maybe it was the life and death thing.

The Berserker didn’t just do anything for play.

 _Fine with me,_ Eclipse thought. The last person had to be back in the city, since she hadn’t seen signs of anyone else in the park, and he probably would have jumped her by now anyway. The body of the first soldier she wounded lay prone on the ground near the car. Knowing no one could leave the arena until the “game play” was over, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Hell, it sucked to be the first one shot and have to lie there for the next 20 minutes or so. 

Her cover and visual range was limited, she knew, and crouched down with her back against the wall. She could see down the street one way with her eyes but not the other. She tried to use the side mirror from a parked car to see in that direction and it worked, but only for a moment. Based on what Eclipse saw, the remaining soldier had been up the road behind her, probably taking the chance to change vantage points when Eclipse ran into the alleyway. Her options were limited. She was in an alleyway with very little cover and her enemy lining up the shot across the street. 

Her best bet was to match the remaining soldier's run and shoot it out as she tried to find better cover. She was too open there. 

There was another flash of black across the street and she took a step forward away from the wall, but froze. Something felt off. No, not felt, something _sounded_ off. There was someone to her right down the other end of the ally, she heard the steps. But that couldn’t be right. This was the edge of the map, she thought, and there was only one remaining soldier. 

Her cover was limited and his footsteps wouldn’t slow. Why was he just walking? And did he not know she was there?

Cursing, she didn't have time to figure it out and took a large step out into the alleyway, pivoting to her right and aiming three shots about waist high. Seeing as she hadn’t seen her enemy, he could have crawled up to her or merely ran, so the height was elementary. If he was on the ground, he would be dead, but since this particular soldier just walked up to her, he got a few nice shots to the groin.

And it _was_ a guy.

He didn’t say anything, she saw his green eyes through his helmet staring down at the three shots and then back to the girl lying on the ground. A mixture between shock, anger, and pride flashed across his fair face, accented with a gaping mouth and outstretched arms. 

It looked so natural.

“Heine,” she breathed.

_Bang._

“I win!” It was Rika who shouted and in any other circumstance, the redhead might have been thrilled. Right then, though, a shot—whether it was from a training pistol or not—to the back of the head would make anyone cranky.

Not to mention she lost the bout.

“You better have a damn good reason for sneaking in here,” Eclipse spat, jumping to her feet and taking off her helmet in one smooth motion. 

“Did you _really_ have to do that?” Heine asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously, but there was still some humor there.

And that was what pissed her off the most.

She cocked the gun, aimed down at his groin again and fired. The bullet never made contact—in fact it went right through his open legs—but it was enough to make Heine jump. “You know better than to sneak up on me.”

“Sure, but what did they,” he pointed down, “ever do to you?”

“I won! I won!” the girl continued, jumping up and down around the terrain. She met each of her fallen teammates as they stood and gave the most annoying squeal and dramatic hug in the process. It was a sickening sight and even though—for only a second—Eclipse thought Rika had won based on experience, when her gun went off and nicked Shane’s leg, the redhead knew she just had a bunch of good luck. “I won! Guys, I—"

“Shut up!”

* * *

“So, what did you need to tell me?” Eclipse asked, leaning back against the railing. Heine had insisted on the location and had said there was something important he had to tell her, which was the real reason he had busted in on her match. He even calmed her suspicions by mentioning it was for the military and nothing personal.

They were near the port, walking distance away from the range and looking out across the water. It was barely midday and she already found herself winded. Perhaps she had done too much too soon, she figured, massaging her right wrist in her left hand. 

“I was just in the right place at the right time. Your name came up for transfer and I volunteered to relay the orders. You don’t have much time, I’m afraid, so the interruption seemed warranted, but I don’t think I deserved such a welcome.”

“I’m not going through it again; it’s your own damn fault. Just call me outside next time or something. If you weren’t wearing the special suit, you’d be a _lot_ angrier with me right now. Probably be singing an octave higher too.”

He sighed. “Sorry, it looked like it was going to be a one-on-one hide and seek battle and I wanted to make sure you had enough time.” He walked towards her and leaned forward on the railing close to the redhead, but not close enough to cause her discomfort. Eclipse had to smile at that.

Perhaps he had learned.

“Lexi—”

“Eclipse,” she corrected.

“Eclipse then.” He rolled his eyes, but didn’t press the matter, gazing back out across the water. “You’re being ordered to Banadiya to help out Commander Waltfeld.”

“The Desert Tiger?” she asked, recognizing the name. Heine nodded slowly and she tried to cover her confusion by turning to look back across the port. “Why over there?”

“Apparently, he’s been fighting that Earth Forces ship, but things aren’t going well.”

“In other words, he’s losing.” She frowned at that, not realizing they and the “Legged Ship” had fallen so far away from each other. 

“Surprisingly,” Heine continued. “Commander Waltfeld is known for his military prowess, but he still can’t sink her and he’s asking for some new pilots to fill his ranks. Gibralter’s sending more mobile suits as well, but not too many just yet.”

“Why not?”

“I think they’re waiting for the Duel and Buster to be repaired.”

“Makes sense; they’d be a good addition to the ground forces, especially with that ship and G-Weapon floating around. And, since I don’t have a suit, they can send me ahead to pilot whatever they have at hand.”

“Precisely.”

They both stopped, Eclipse to digest the situation and Heine to let her. She figured she might be shipped out relatively soon, but she had only been out of the hospital for a day and her departure would be taking place without the stimulating company of Yzak and Dearka. Since they were assigned to the same team, the redhead figured they wouldn’t be split up like this. 

“Am I being reassigned to his team?” she asked after a moment, finding the prospect surprisingly disappointing.

Heine nodded. “Temporarily, at least. I don’t think they’re removing you from the Le Creuset team for long.”

Eclipse gave a noncommittal noise and turned around on the railing, facing the water the same as him. She didn’t expect to be transferred to a new team so soon, even if it was temporarily. 

“Y’know, I was at Victoria before coming here and I witnessed something I… wasn’t expecting.” The redhead looked at him, curious about his tone and found herself even a little concerned with the grave look on his face. He didn’t seem to be a person who was uncharacteristically serious unless there was a good reason for it and she tensed.

“What happened?”

“How d’you do it; tolerate it even?” Heine went on, not completely answering her question. “I understand the psychology behind having little to no remorse in a MS fight; it had been explained to us many times. But those insurgents were unarmed, humiliated, and hand-cuffed.”

Now she _was_ curious. What missions was ZAFT sending him on? Sure, he had been sent with her for SIN-ED and was, technically, her partner if the need should arise, but did the connection to her suddenly make him ZAFT’s next go-to for similar missions? That thought made her swallow. She didn’t want Heine anywhere near that stuff, she realized. Even now, watching him stare out into the water, he seemed less, well, Heine. 

It made her feel, surprisingly, protective.

 _Let me do it,_ she thought angrily. _Leave him alone._

“I was called out to support a ZAFT team that had, apparently, been ambushed by local insurgents who were unhappy ZAFT had taken control of Victoria. Honestly, I didn’t stick around for the full report, especially when I witnessed what they considered ‘due justice’ against their captors.” He sighed then and shook his head, his hand brushing an anxious course through his hair. “They weren’t even blindfolded, and yet they put a bullet through their heads. How could they just kill them like that? Knowing they were other human beings?”

A part of her was relieved to know he hadn’t been a part of the execution. Based on his reaction, however, either he had forgotten about the mishaps with FS and Stray, or he felt she was an outlet who might understand. “How often do they put you in these situations, Heine?” The concern in her voice started him, she figured. Hell, it had surprised her as well.

Maybe she was changing a bit.

He shrugged. “First time other than our fateful meeting.” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes, a light smile on her lips. Perhaps he wasn’t that different after all.

“I have to be honest though. If you were the one kneeling on the ground, those insurgents wouldn’t have shown you mercy either. I don’t mean to be cliché, but it’s a ‘kill or be killed world’ out there; there’s no middle ground.”

“But I just don’t remember when we crossed the line from being humans to being monsters.”

Eclipse cringed, she couldn’t help it. After everything she had been through, she was wondering the same thing herself. The only difference being it was _her_ humanity in question. “Maybe we didn’t cross a line, per say, just drew new ones. At first, the killing of another person was barbaric, but now, it’s romanticized through war. The battleground is a stage for heroes and those who live are rewarded. Their prize? Well, the life of their enemy of course. What greater homage could be given than one’s existence?” 

“Are you justifying what they did?”

“You mean what you and I do, too? Killing people with a mobile suit is still killing them. Do you find that to be a less tortuous and merciful end? Death is death, Heine.”

“So, I’m to hate myself then?”

She sighed and took a breath, turning away from him to look out at the water. “It’s not an uncommon thought, so I guess you just have to ask yourself whether you can deal with it. We’re soldiers. ‘Murderers’ is probably a better word, but we’re in a war and the person we have to deal with every morning in the mirror is still ourselves.”

He grew silent for a moment as he considered her words and Eclipse let him. Whatever it said about her psyche, she _could_ look at herself every morning and that was good enough for now, she supposed. Would that change later? Or would she be forced to reckon with what she had done?

“I guess we’ll have to make sure we bring peace and then make up for it later, huh?”

She laughed. “Right, peace. Not sure even that will even the scales with death.” 

"A death doesn’t have to equal a death to even the scales, you know. I’d like to think there is more to it than that.” 

In the end, they were both guessing, so she just shrugged, not having a concrete answer and after being part of a program that seemed to flirt with that concept, she didn’t want to admit to him that insanity still seemed to be the viable outcome. “Just don’t get soft. I’d hate to think you got killed because your enemy was a bit less indecisive.”

“You saying you don’t want me to die?” Heine was genuinely interested, resting his head on an upraised hand. A confident smirk curled up his lips, but Eclipse found herself rolling her eyes. They looked at each other for a moment, making their own assessments in that split second and the redhead bailed first. 

“You’re scheduled to take off in an hour,” he said a moment later, a bit of laughter in his comment. “I’ll meet you at the carrier.” 

“I’ll let the others in my team know.” 

They nodded to each other. “And, thanks, Lexi,” he said a moment later and she shook her head, not wanting to correct him yet again.

_Maybe I’ll let him call me that._

* * *

Yzak and Dearka weren’t hard to find; Eclipse tracked them down to a nearby hangar. They were standing on the floor in front of the Buster and Duel, chatting as they observed the repairs. If they hadn’t been asked to do anything, it meant the machines were most likely damaged more than she had initially thought and that was a little concerning. She tried not to think about it as she caught them up to speed.

“The desert?” Yzak scoffed. “I _really_ hope that isn’t our next destination too.”

“Where the ‘Legged Ship’ goes, we go,” Dearka said simply and shrugged. “I suppose we should be happy to know we’re still on point.”

“Well, I’m going to be temporarily transferred, so there’s still the possibility you two won’t be sent there too. Maybe if you play nice here, they won’t want to kick you out and you can avoid the sunburn.”

Yzak cocked his eyebrow. “Have you developed a sense of humor too?”

Dearka snorted through a short laugh and Eclipse rolled her eyes, waving goodbye and leaving them to their damaged machines. 

She didn’t have much to pack. In fact, everything she did own was still on the _Vesalius_ and knowing it was up there and she was down here, the probability of her getting it within the next hour was very small. Heine—presumably—talked intelligence into giving her a laptop and some other accessories, but other than that, her luggage was extremely light.

The carrier was relatively small, transporting only two BuCUEs and three soldiers, counting Eclipse. Ironically, the two soldiers were Breck and Rika. Judging by their faces, she figured they were chosen because of their success at the simulations—and not personal preference—but the redhead was still wary they could hold their own. 

Not going in right away, she looked around for her well-wisher, wondering if this was going to be the first promise he had ever broken to someone. The thought was short lived, however, not being able to hold back the smile when he ran up to her. 

“Ah, you look like you missed me,” Heine said.

“More like thinking you bailed.”

“Actually, I’m supposed to be monitoring some air waves right now, but a buddy of mine offered to fill in for a bit.”

“That’s quite a friend.”

“Yeah, they’re not that bad if you ever find a few,” he mocked, laughing when she rolled her eyes. “You gonna be alright by yourself?”

“Who are you all of a sudden, my mother? Damnit, Heine, you know I can take care of myself. Need I remind you of some nicely aimed shots?”

“You’re right, let’s not go there.”

“Hey, elite, the pilot said we’re taking off. Better get inside,” Breck called, but the engine starting was enough of a hint. Heine took a step back to shield his eyes when the upper blades started rotating, and at first the redhead thought he was going to wave and walk away, but he seemed to be saying something.

“What?” she yelled back, hoping to hear his last words before he got too far away.

“I said, do you know a Lathan Rymyr?”

Eclipse froze. “L-Lathan?”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” Heine went on, having to shout even louder now. “He says that if you die, he’ll have to kill you. A little cliché, wouldn’t you say?” 

“H-Heine!” she yelled, but he was too far away now and waving vigorously. If she didn’t know any better, he was amused by her reaction. If only she thought it was as funny. _He knows Lathan? Dear God, the world must be coming to an end. Nothing short of Judgment Day could save us from that meeting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, another chapter up. The next chapter starts one of my favorite arcs ever so I'm suuuuuper happy to have gotten to this point. I've also gotten up to the point where my writing style has kind of been established so it's a bit more enjoyable (and nostalgic) to edit.
> 
> Not a huge fan of the fight in this chapter, not gonna lie, but I didn't do much with it primarily because I didn't like it. Might come back to it at a later date, but one of these days I might just cut it altogether. I was happy to see Heine show up again this chapter as that was a nice little surprise for me at the time. I had to revamp the conversation because my previous one stumbled uncomfortably on the SEED equivalent of the Geneva Convention and war crimes. Anyway, revamped to try and avoid any issues, though it's still... iffy. Might require even more tweaks.
> 
> Let's see... not much else, to be honest. I added a bit more interaction between Yzak, Dearka, and Eclipse than what I had previously and that was primarily for plot and characterization reasons, I suppose. Oh, I also expanded the timing a bit here, so it's a little off from canon. I needed additional time for Eclipse to properly heal and still get to the desert before the Banadiya arc ended. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in the next one. We're heading towards the coffee addict and the desert. It's gonna be fun.
> 
> Strata


	25. Coffee, Kebabs, and a Tiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse's first day in Banadiya turns out to be both delicious and eventful.

** Coffee, Kebabs, and a Tiger **

“Let’s see. Codename Lunar Eclipse; part of the Le Creuset team; elite training; skills various—”

“Well, isn’t that specific,” the commander chided in, stopping his second-in-command mid-briefing. He wasn’t the typical “head dog,” but not one to take lightly either. Sporting a burnt yellow shirt—with black shoulders and rolled up cuffs—the only thing indicating his rank were the three stripes near his breast pocket. Given the environment, the opened shirt collar was expected—as was the brown and scraggly, (yet short) haircut—but usually ZAFT officers liked to keep up appearances. The sideburns seemed to be a nice touch and if anything, it showed his scruffy character. There was a reason he was named the “Desert Tiger” and even more reasons he was feared.

Blame it on the coffee.

The younger man just sighed, letting the clipboard slip down slightly in exhaustion. His superior always seemed to have a wise crack, but for once he wished he could go through a meeting without some sort of interruption. “Age 15; cooperation commendable; shooting percentage—”

“Remarkable; speed above average; personality charming—yes, yes, we go through this every time, DaCosta.”

“Andy, please,” the only other person in the room said, sitting down on the commander’s armrest and crossing her legs. Attractive, she wore a strapless, blue jumpsuit with white ruffles and blue sleeves starting around the biceps of each arm. It may have looked awkward on many, but for this particular soldier it looked almost comfortable. The grace she showed in that small movement proved she would act better—and quicker—in such an outfit. Her long blue hair accented the attire, but the two, orange strands in her bangs stood out enough to offset the constant color. However, not even fair skin, a stern look, and a melodious voice was enough to calm down this commander.

“There has to be _something_ different about her. For goodness sakes, they’re making a mobile suit especially for her use.” He dropped the papers back on his desk, leaned back, and grabbed his cup of coffee, taking an abrupt sip. 

“True, but we don’t have to worry about the suit yet; it’s still in production,” DaCosta said, bringing the clipboard down to his side. He debated fixing the wrinkle in his green uniform, but decided against it. Instead he put a gloved hand through his crew cut red hair. Not as professional looking, but it was better than having to stop mid-motion with the wrinkle. The commander would probably make fun of him for it later, but oh well. Unfortunately, he was used to it.

“Yes, but how many soldiers get a mobile suit _built_ for them?”

"Jealous?” the lady teased, but was rewarded with a small glare. 

Waltfeld shoved her off the chair playfully and took another sip of his coffee. “Don’t be ridiculous, Aisha. The LaGOWE is all I need.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” She smiled and took to leaning against the wall near the door. 

DaCosta leafed through his reports again, stopping on the unit the commander was so concerned about. “MW-979ca STEALTH.”

“STEALTH?” Aisha echoed, and the greencoat nodded.

“CA?” Waltfeld asked and he nodded again. “What do you suppose that stands for? Coffee addict?”

“Only you would think of that one, dear,” the female pilot sighed. It was amazing how one person could be both amusing and exhausting at the same time.

“Sir, I don’t think—” DaCosta began, but, as usual, was cut off.

“How about customized airbags?” the commander suggested.

“Sir—”

“What would be the point of airbags in a mobile suit; they’d go off every second. Quite annoying if you ask me,” Aisha chimed in. The greencoat wished she would stop supporting the Desert Tiger’s unprofessional kicks. If anything, she could make him be a bit more serious at times like these.

“I dunno,” Waltfeld said. “Might be useful.”

“Wouldn’t do much good when you get sliced by a beam saber.”

“Sir, it means—” DaCosta tried again, but judging by the looks on their faces, now he seemed to be in the middle of some lovers’ spat. How the hell did that happen?

“Must you always be dramatic?” the commander asked, swiveling his chair to look at her directly. It was a small movement, but enough to grab the attention of everyone in the room. This must have been the tail end of some argument that either started the night before or earlier that day.

Whatever had happened, now wasn’t the time.

Aisha looked like she was going to respond, but DaCosta had finally built up enough frustration. Well, at least he had the balls to shout. “Sir!” The two paused and turned back to the second-in-command, blinking as if they just remembered he was there. “It means Communication Alteration.”

“Ah, isn’t that a mouth full,” Andy muttered and took another swig. Damn the stuff was good. “Well, coffee addict sounds better.”

“Oh, and it strikes such fear into the hearts of our enemies too,” Aisha retorted, looking to start up the playful act again, however, the commander didn’t seem interested; in fact, his thoughts were elsewhere.

“Hey, I’d be scared of someone who liked coffee more than I do.”

The other two could only groan. There was no good comment to give and, frankly, he was right.

That kind of person would be the most frightening being alive.

* * *

Because they departed later in the day, Eclipse the others didn’t arrive in Banadiya until about three o’clock in the morning. The redhead didn’t mind the early hours, but apparently her new teammates liked to sleep. Their rude awakening wasn’t a pretty sight—and thank goodness Eclipse didn’t have to do more than round up her things—but once they were off the transport and back on the ground, Breck and Rika were standing pretty well on their own. 

The place was huge, there really was no other explanation. It was hard to see because of the time—thanks to some spotlights the redhead could make out a few details—but it had to have been at least five stories and wrapped around on three sides. Eclipse was hoping she didn’t have a top floor room and just by looking at the front steps she felt exhausted. There were probably hundreds leading up to a pair of doors and she couldn’t imagine what walking to the fifth floor would be like. 

Especially when her two comrades were half asleep.

DaCosta met them at the top of one flight of those stairs—luckily no one fell over—doing a full body checkout on Eclipse before moving to the Breck and Rika. In any other situation, the redhead may have called it offensive, but since he was just sizing her up and deciding whether or not to trust her with a gun at his back, she really didn’t mind. However, she did wonder what he thought of her. “Because of the ungodly hour, Commander Waltfeld said he’d meet you all at 0900.”

“Wait, so we get only six hours of sleep?” Rika complained, hiding a yawn behind her sleeve. Breck tensed and Eclipse just sighed. 

“You’re lucky you’re getting that. The commander usually gets the base up around 0500. Would you rather have two hours? I’m sure I can arrange it because being a huge fan of being woken up at three I’m sure he’d oblige,” the greencoat said, sounding a bit snappy even to someone having been around Yzak for the past few days. Looking at his calm demeanor and the way the other officers glanced at the man, Eclipse decided it was unusual. Good thing to know because the redhead didn’t think she could handle another personality like the Duel pilot’s. If anything, it proved how much she didn’t want to get on DaCosta’s bad side. 

When Rika didn’t answer he nodded and led them inside. They walked down a series of hallways, Eclipse admiring the display of squares and triangles etched on the walls. It looked nice—for the most part—she couldn’t help but feel she had stepped into geometry class. “Here are your rooms. There’s some toiletries, but things have been a bit hectic around here lately so they might be running low. There’s a storage room in the next hallway if you absolutely need some.” When Breck looked passed the greencoat to find said room, DaCosta glared at him slightly. Damn, it must have been a bad night. “It’s labeled ‘Storage’ for your convenience, so I doubt you’ll miss it.”

“Oh—uh—I—”

“Eclipse and Rika here. Breck there.” The officer pointed to each room in turn, cutting off the younger soldier’s stuttering. “Remember, 0900 hours. The commander’s pretty testy in the morning, so you’d better all be sharp. At least I wouldn’t want to be the one walking in and saying, ‘I got lost, sir.’ Know where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. That’s all my advice for now. G’night.” And he left, leaving two terrified greencoats and one amused redcoat behind to digest the words. 

This was going to be an interesting stay.

* * *

For the most part, they were early. Rika had set her alarm for 0800 hours—instead of the 0840 Eclipse was thinking of—and proceeded to take a very short shower. Given the length of the bathing session, the redhead figured she was being nice by getting in early and having Eclipse take a shower after, but once the water was turned off, she remained in the bathroom for the next half hour. Lazily lying in bed, the redhead really didn’t mind. She hadn’t had enough sleep to gather the insane amount of energy it would have taken to walk to the door, bang on it, and then shout at the blonde for being so insensitive. While Rika and—most likely—Breck had decided to pass out early, Eclipse stayed up a while doing research. She didn’t get to do much on the transport and seeing as she was behind because of her time in the hospital, she really didn’t have a choice. 

And her crazy friends seemed to be having a bit of fun.

Eclipse had given up around 0600 with some disturbing information on SIN-ED concerning the assassination of four minor officials in the PLANT government as well as the indiscreet destruction of a technical facility on December 2. The PLANT officials, by far, had it worst off. Given the state of the situation, Eclipse figured a huge article would be posted on the front page of the newspaper, but it was vaguely mentioned next to some television show advertisements in the paper two days ago. The reason probably had to do something with the nature of the death and no newspaper was willing to give such details. That had required further investigating on Eclipse’s part. SIN-ED’s participation had only been a guess, but reading about the quick execution and grisly aftermath, Eclipse knew FS—or at least another member—had something to do with it. Apparently, the heads were found three blocks from their torsos, dangling from the traffic light on a busy intersection in Aprilius 1. All the arms and legs were laid out under the heads, spelling the phrase, “NO WAR!;” the fingers and toes cut off and thrown into a pile to dot the exclamation point. The redhead doubted random passersby would just let someone tie a bunch of heads to the traffic signal, so the killings had to either have been coordinated and executed at night, or they had somehow blocked off the roads. She was betting on the night theory, but she wasn’t about to let the blockade slide so easily either. 

The explosion was a bit flashier and had a bigger article. Three hundred workers and civilians were killed in the blast that took out one of the biggest radar and communication factories in the PLANTs. The paper said it was an accident, but most likely a lie to keep the public from erupting into chaos. A witness said he had heard three explosions near the site, but the police report indicated four hot spots; two in the facility, one in a fueling station close by, and one other in the apartment building housing most of the workers and their families. From a civilian’s perspective, it may have looked like a chain reaction started by a fire in the factory which was too close to the gas pumps. This ignited an explosion big enough to engulf the apartment—and other small houses—a block away as well as the rest of the facility. What people didn’t know was how ZAFT had anticipated a possible problem earlier with the fuel and factory so close together. Putting the gas tanks under ground about three blocks away—so it could provide for other places as well—they wove pipes underground to the station and the only way to get the fuel required a short series of numbers and a two-minute wait. The station had been under renovation at the time so there wasn’t even any fresh fuel lingering in the pumps when the fireworks started. 

See, not an accident.

Eclipse wasn’t sure whether to applaud SIN-ED for their precise executions, or slap them for being so careless. The headless official had been relatively successful for scaring the shit out of the general public—and even the explosion seemed to have the police running for the hills—but such flashy antics would get them noticed for sure. 

But then again, maybe they were finally making their move.

“You’re still in bed?” Rika asked, stepping out of the bathroom. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun and the green uniform ironed to perfection. The only thing throwing off her flawless appearance was a mascara smudge near her right eye. 

The redhead decided not to mention it. “It’s only 0837 hours and unlike you, it takes me about ten minutes to get changed and smelling halfway decent. Sweat mixed with perfume and make-up doesn’t sound like an appealing day to me.”

The girl didn’t respond and walked out the door. Either she was angry, the scent of her body spray had suddenly become so overbearing she just had to get some fresh air, or the stick shoved up her ass was so deep she didn’t dare pull it out with Eclipse sitting there watching.

Despite what people think, sometimes the correct answer _is_ “all the above.”

Taking the 10 minutes the redhead anticipated, she was dressed, relatively clean, and standing with her other two teammates at exactly 0858. DaCosta rounded a corner as Eclipse was walking up and quickly nodded a greeting. “I’ll go in first.” Not waiting for responses, the greencoat turned the knob and pushed open the door. “Sir, these are the new recruits who came with the BuCUEs: Rika Stattin, Breck Hall, and Lunar Eclipse.” He pointed to each in turn, directing them inside with the sweep of his hand. It was a tiny office. One desk—with an overzealous display of coffee flavors as well as equipment—and chair was positioned directly in the center of the room with three filing cabinets off to the right. A smaller table was set up near the door, along with two more chairs on the left by a closet; at least Eclipse figured it was that. Two larger windows were open behind the desk, making the commander’s face slightly shadowed, but not enough so to miss the amused look on his face and interesting attire.

Ah yes, the outfit.

“Sir? What are you wearing?” DaCosta asked.

“What, you don’t like it?” Waltfeld countered, standing up. He wore a yellow and red striped polo shirt with white pants, but not even to the common civilian did he fit the definition of “trendy.” Slick, brown loafers covered his feet and with the flick of his hand, he pulled a tan sunhat and shades out of the drawer. “I planned on taking a stroll through town today.”

“In that?” his second-in-command quickly asked, seeming to be a reflex more than anything.

“What? Would you rather have me go out in uniform?”

“I’d rather you didn’t stand out on either spectrum, sir,” DaCosta said, deciding to change the subject when Waltfeld put the hat and shades on to argue more. Obviously, this was not an argument the greencoat was going to win, especially since the hat had a red bow on in. “Anyway, what would you like to me to do with the recruits?”

“Hm? Oh, them. Breck, you’re going to be our newest pilot, so I’m leaving you with DaCosta. Aisha wants you, Rika, so I’m shipping you over to that woman’s capable hands, but as for Lunar Eclipse, I’d like to talk to you for a second.”

“But wait—sir. I-I’ve never piloted—” Breck stuttered.

“I know you’re capable of handling a BuCUE. I’ve looked at your records and they are quite impressive, but if it’d make you feel better, I can send DaCosta to show you a few things,” the commander said and sat back down in his seat. A smile curled up his lips at their reactions, making him look like an amused cat. Eclipse couldn’t help but pity the mice.

DaCosta looked like he was going to argue, but then stopped. After all the time he had spent under the Desert Tiger, he knew better than to continue an argument. Evidently, Waltfeld was getting back at him for the comment about his attire earlier, so the redhead had no choice but to oblige. “Yes, sir.”

“Good, now, you’re dismissed.” The three saluted and then walked out, closing the door behind them. 

Once they were gone, Eclipse couldn’t help but feel sorry for DaCosta. Not only did he have to put up with the commander’s abuse periodically, but he now had to deal with Breck. _Does he treat all his soldiers this way, or is he just special?_

“Lunar Eclipse I have a few questions for you.” By this time, Waltfeld had taken off the hat and shades and set them down on the desk. That was a relief because Eclipse liked being able to see a person’s eyes when she talked to him, but also because the whole getup was pretty distracting. She could handle the shirt, but the other accessories had to go. Pulling over one of the chairs near the closet, he set it in front of his desk before walking back to his own spot. Eclipse took the hint and sat down, suddenly—because of her proximity to the desktop—noticing the breathtaking smell of coffee. It was strong, to be sure, but because it reminded her vaguely of Stray and FS, she found it more of a pleasurable experience than a sickening or horrifying one. “Alright, remember these questions are all of great importance and answer them to the best of your ability. Are we clear?” She nodded. “Well then, first question. Would you like some coffee?”

“Would I ever,” Eclipse responded immediately and rather unprofessionally, not even bothered by how far off kilter his priorities were. Either it proved she was beginning to know the commander pretty well, or she had been deprived of the beverage for far too long.

Waltfeld blinked, smiled, then handed her a mug. “Great! I’m an expert coffee blender and, let me say, this one is especially tasty. A little espresso mixed with cinnamon, vanilla, and some French Roast added in for a kick. I’m sure you’ll find it the most delicious cup you’ve ever tasted.”

The redhead took a sip, thought a little on the taste and then nodded. “It is very good, sir.”

“I knew it!” he announced. “That’s what the CA stood for!”

Not even bothering to ask, Eclipse just took another drink. Sure, they were in the middle of a desert, SIN-ED was ridding the human race of fingers and toes, and an overenthusiastic—yet dangerous—addict was giving her a caffeinated beverage. Still, she had to enjoy life sometimes and why not have a moment of bliss before realizing she was joining said addict on a trip to town? 

* * *

Aisha had picked out the attire, and after seeing what _she_ was wearing, Eclipse found she didn’t mind her outfit. A light blue tank top sat lightly on her upper torso, the straps too small to hide the sports bra, but—after all the redhead had gone through to destroy her social image—it looked fine. Cotton blue trousers and black tennis shoes finished the getup with a sense of comfortable familiarity, but it was still too fashionable for her tastes. Fashionable meaning the only place for a handgun was the purse hanging on her left hip. Not something she was used to. “I look ridiculous,” Eclipse had complained when Aisha stood her in front of the mirror. This was the second time she had somehow slipped into a level of informality she hadn’t dared breach before. It was hard to place the reasoning, but she figured it had more to do with the laid-back nature of the ones in charge rather than her own personality shift.

Though, she quite liked being so casual.

“Why, darling, you look great. Here, let’s put your hair back in a clip to keep it out of your eyes, like so. There! One gorgeous, ass kicking bodyguard.”

“Y’know, if you didn’t add in the ‘ass kicking’ I’d have been offended,” the redhead had said and the woman just laughed.

“Yes, well, you’d better live up to it. Andy can take care of himself, but if he gets too adventurous, you’d better be there to slap him across the back of the head. I’ll not lose him to some brute of a woman during a market sale.”

“I take it he’s done that before? Over some coffee beans, I’m thinking.”

Aisha had nodded sadly. “He came back with a nice black eye too.”

Great, so not only was she forced to socialize, she had to keep an eye on her rambunctious commander and hope no grisly details would make their way back to the keen ears of his girlfriend.

How convenient.

The town was a lot bigger and busier than Eclipse had expected. Tall cement apartments lined the streets and stretched back for miles in either direction. There seemed to be only one main street—the one they were on—so the only way to reach the buildings further out was by a series of alleyways. _Damn, this place is ambush central,_ Eclipse thought, casting a glance at Waltfeld. Keeping him from doing something foolish was the least of her worries now. Three other soldiers—all incognito—came as well, talking amongst themselves. They seemed to be having a good time and perhaps that was what bothered Eclipse the most. Why weren’t they as nervous as she was?

“Relax, Eclipse. If you don’t wipe that scowl off your face, we’ll start looking suspicious. Now, I didn’t invite you to blow our cover,” the commander said, not worrying about the volume of his voice. He doubted anyone could hear him anyway. 

“First of all, sir, you didn’t invite me; I got courteously blackmailed. Second of all, I have a feeling you do this quite often. Given the demeanor of your bodyguards and your lackadaisical approach to the situation you probably do this about three times a week. You don’t look to be sporting any major injuries and you only brought four soldiers, so you probably don’t get into too much trouble. Despite all that, I have one question, why did you bring _me_ of all people?”

“I thought you’d like to see the town and there’s a restaurant up here selling some pretty descent coffee.”

“So, this is all because of coffee, sir?”

“You complaining?” Waltfeld asked and smiled when Eclipse sighed. “To be honest, I want to see what you’d do if a situation does arise.”

“Ah, so this is a test? Either you have a lot of faith in me or are a masochistic fool who’d put his life in danger to see if some soldier is good with a gun.”

“Do you speak to everyone like this? And here I thought your cooperation was ‘commendable,’” the commander muttered, tipping his hat as a pair of young ladies walked by. “Have you met so many stiffs in the military you can’t believe I honestly want to sit down in town and have coffee?”

Eclipse decided not to answer, so Waltfeld didn’t press the matter.

The restaurant was also better than the redhead expected. Not only did it have some fine seating arrangements—both tables outside as well as inside—but the bay windows on the side of the establishment made it look very inviting. The fresh smell of cooked food and coffee was also a plus and when the commander took a huge whiff and sighed, she knew he enjoyed it there. Waltfeld sat first—which was both out of respect as well as tradition—and picked two tables near the end. Seeing as the commander wanted to talk to Eclipse a little more, the other three bodyguards took the next table over and started ordering. 

“You hungry?” Waltfeld asked. “They make the best donar kebabs around, so if anything, order that.”

 _Well, I didn’t have any breakfast,_ the redhead thought and merely shrugged. If she was going to eat that day, might as well be something someone suggested. “Honestly, I’ve never had one before, sir.”

“That’s alright; I’ll tell you how to eat them.” He ordered the two kebabs and two glasses of coffee, looking quite pleased with himself. Eclipse watched him in that moment. Sometimes he seemed like an air headed dolt who didn’t know the difference between his nickname and a dingo, but at other times, he was quite intimidating. She suspected most people didn’t take him seriously, but that, of course, was their loss. He was a fine commander—if her ease with talking to him was any indication—and deserved a lot of respect based on his record alone. The way he controlled himself was enough for her. Even though he was dressed in such a goofy outfit, Waltfeld honestly wanted to know what was going on in his town. Yes, _his_ town. She mustn’t forget that because he obviously took it by sheer skill. If the happy civilians weren’t enough to prove her point, the way everything in the city looked was amazing. He didn’t just waltz in and floor the town. In fact, he took command, kept the economy stable and the people safe at the same time. Impressive. Not very many commanders would care about the people he overthrew and even a military dictatorship was likely in most cities. Eclipse didn’t see that here in Banadiya. Given, she didn’t know Waltfeld’s dark secrets—and guessed he had to use some form of fear to keep the citizens from rebelling—but, for the most part, things seem pretty good.

“So, what’re you thinking about so diligently?” the commander asked, leaning his head on an upraised hand. “Please tell, because I’m curious as to how that mind of yours works.”

“And why would you say something like that, sir?”

“You see, we received some information concerning a new mobile suit being built in the PLANTs and was curious as to why you are its chosen pilot.”

“Wait, I’m piloting a new mobile suit?” Eclipse asked, now interested in the situation. The coffee arrived before Waltfeld could continue and only after the redhead put some sugar and creamer in the drink did he move on. 

“Those are the rumors, but it’ll still be some time before you’ll get the suit. It’s still in production and isn’t scheduled to be completed for a couple of weeks yet.”

“Why are they giving it to _me_?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering. Sure, you’re an elite and the others on your team have powerful units of their own, but is that enough to give you a brand-new model? I looked further into your files, but nothing of significance came up. There has to be something vital, but as far as I can tell, the only ones who find you important are the ones giving the orders. To the rest of the military, you’re nothing but a mere soldier.” He took a sip of his coffee, studying her reaction. Honestly, this whole interrogation could have been because of curiosity, but the emotions that crossed Eclipse’s face when he mentioned “vital” and “significance” were interesting. Brief and very small, it was nothing but an eye-lid tick and two ripples in her cup, but Waltfeld’s observant eye caught everything. She knew something—or at least suspected something—but what? Finally, he sighed. “It’s getting harder and harder for me to understand what is going on in the military.”

“Sir?” Eclipse asked, surprised at the comment. 

“Oh, nothing; I’ve just been thinking about some things lately. Besides, we probably shouldn’t be talking on this subject at a dinner table.”

“Can I ask you one more thing?”

“Hm?”

She took a pause before speaking, and he watched her again. Redcoats were often a bit more conversational with commanding officers than those of lower rank and so far, her character had been expected. Perhaps, what hadn’t been expected was for her to realize that was what she was doing. It was as if her unfiltered speech surprised her sometimes, and that was based on the subtle reactions she had made through the walk to the restaurant and even this pause was making him think his deduction wasn’t too far off the mark.

“You can speak freely. I value respect more than allegiance, though I’d like to think the two were linked,” he said when she still hadn’t asked her question. “I find merit in listening to opinions from any rank and in the desert it’s far too hot to care about protocol.”

She relaxed at least, though she still looked suspicious. “What’s my role here, sir? I was sent here without my teammates, so that either says I can be of value to you, or they’re taking me off the Le Creuset team altogether.”

 _Be of value to you_ , he thought, noting the way she had worded it and recalled the way she had reacted to their conversation earlier. He would need to look at her profile a bit more closely.

“That’s a valid question,” he began with a sigh, looking away from her and to the street as he picked up his coffee. “I had asked for two new pilots to fill in my ranks. Your contribution to the Le Creuset team and rather unceremonious fall to Earth caught the attention of a few and your name was recommended, so I picked you—or, should I say, you’re on loan to me. I’m very anal when it comes to pilots, so consider yourself honored. Taking that into account, you’ll be piloting a BuCUE for a while. That won’t be a problem, right?”

“No,” Eclipse responded with a shrug. “Not at all. Will just need some training.”

“Training we can do. Ah, here’re the kebabs. Now, try this yogurt sauce, okay? They taste so good with it on.”

* * *

For the most part, the afternoon had been going well. Things got a little boring around the third cup of coffee, but as soon as the commander found a newspaper, they were passing it back and forth so much they didn’t even notice as another hour went by. 

“Hm, I wonder who they are,” Waltfeld said, looking over at two teenagers at the table kiddy-corner from them. The girl had her back turned to the duo and was waving some slip of paper at the boy across from her. She wore a red tank top with khaki pants. Nothing fancy, but it was enough to offset her unusually pale skin and shoulder length blonde hair. The boy looked exhausted. Just as pale as his friend, he wore a white, button-up shirt—with a blue shirt underneath—and khaki pants, proving why the commander would be so interested. The young man may have looked normal with messy brown hair and purple eyes, but everyone in this town had some sort of tan and they were, well, not. At the boy’s feet were four bags of goods—bread, fruits, vegetables, and other basic needs—however, none of it seemed out of the ordinary. 

“Sir, what d’ya think—” Eclipse began, but the commander had already gotten to his feet, muttering a quiet, “Oh no you don’t.” Was this the “adventurous” side Aisha had warned her about?

If so, damn it.

If not, still, damn it.

Two kebabs were set on the teens’ table, exciting the blonde and making the boy look downright disgusted. Either he had never had the delicacy before and wasn’t impressed, or the girl had done something peculiar. Eclipse figured it had to do something with the chili sauce container she was waving in his face.

“Hold it right there!” Waltfeld shouted, walking up to the table. “Wait just a moment. How could you stoop to putting chili sauce on your kebabs? Now,” he picked up the other container on the table. Eclipse just groaned and looked away. “This yogurt sauce, that’s the proper thing to add to such a dish!” The rest droned out from there, the redhead having turned her attention to the people walking on the street. The crowd had died down since they had arrived—making the bodyguards feel better—but it was still at an uncomfortable level. 

“You look just as nervous as I feel,” one such soldier said, moving from the other table to join her. “Usually, the air isn’t so tense when we come out, but today something feels a bit off.”

“Intuition?” Eclipse suggested.

“Experience,” he responded. The redhead nodded knowingly and went back to the busy street. 

The commander’s gasp pulled everyone’s attention back to the conversation going on behind them. At first the gesture had startled them, but as soon as Waltfeld yelled, “What a terrible waste!” they all knew he was just talking about the kebabs again.

“He’s one of the most diverse commanders I have ever met,” one of the soldiers at the other table said, shaking his head at the same time. Everyone joined in agreement and Eclipse smiled. Somehow, she was starting to like that about him.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey! Don’t force your bad habits on this guy!”

“So, what looks like the most likely spot someone’s going to attack from?” Eclipse’s tablemate asked and grabbed a section of the paper. He had to keep looking casual or people would catch on. 

“The alleys most likely. We have one on each end of the restaurant and another across the road. If they were smart, they’d just come in with guns and level us all before we could react. It’d create a scene—and they’d probably get caught pretty easily—but we’d all be dead, so in the end it would be a victory for them.”

“At least you’re honest,” he muttered. “Ugh, must he sit down with them? Those two make me nervous.” 

“Huh? They’re just kids,” she responded. Not even she sensed any malice from the two of them.

“And so are you, but you have some pretty dangerous vibes yourself.”

“I admire how careful you are, but—shit! Launcher! Down! Comm—”

Many things happened at once. Eclipse had noticed two people on the roof of the building across the street. One was holding a rocket launcher and let loose an attack as soon as she started shouting. The other three bodyguards reacted instinctively, tipping the tables over on their sides and using the tops to hide behind. Waltfeld had done much the same thing by kicking the teens’ table over and pulling them behind it.

The rocket flew into the restaurant window with destructive results. Broken glass, loud screams, and other unpleasant fragments hit each person respectively, causing some more cries from the unlucky citizens. Eclipse didn’t think any of them were injured from the debris, but she didn’t have much time to doublecheck. The most she could do was see the commander and he seemed fine, if only thrown off balance for a moment. Her eardrums pounded as her pulse sped up, the explosion reducing her hearing for a moment as the heat from the initial blast faded against her skin. It all deteriorated quickly, however, her hearing returning, the warmth shifting to more of a dull vibration as the fires continued behind her, and any thought that their enemies would only attack once.

Four, armed men came running out of the building opposite her position, an automatic rifle each. Her tablemate and her were sharing one table between the two of them and the others were one more table over, also trying to shelter a civilian, it seemed. Automatics versus semi-automatics with their back to a wall and flimsy cover at their front.

Not great odds.

Routinely, the bodyguards all pulled out their semi-automatic pistols and Eclipse did the same, aiming for their miracle. 

“Die Coordinator; you lousy rotten space invaders!” one man yelled, firing in mid-sprint. They needed to keep them from advancing too far, too quickly, so Eclipse rounded the table quickly and fired at the thigh of the speaker. It wasn’t a clean shot and ended up merely grazing the thigh, but one of the other soldiers put a bullet into his gut and he went down. She ducked back for cover when his comrades sprayed a barrage at her and the ground to her right. The sand danced with the assault and she felt her chest pound with the pressure as a few bullets hit the table at her back.

She _really_ hoped her cover held.

“For the preservation of our blue and pure world!” another shouted, sending a barrage the commander’s way. She heard him curse, but he didn’t seem injured. The most interesting thing about the spectacle was not his sudden shift from light-hearted commander to experienced soldier, but the two teenagers seemed far less affected by the gunfight than she thought they should be. Were they used to this? Or, suspecting it?

Eclipse chanced another attack when she felt another barrage end, breaking cover and firing two shots. One bullet hit an attacker in the chest as his focus was on the other table and another shot wounded the left arm of the rebel running towards Waltfeld. The commander took him out with a shot through the neck. “Go ahead! Eliminate them all, now!” he ordered, ducking down for cover.

“Back-up’s on the way,” Eclipse’s partner said as he put one into the collar of an attacker sneaking out of the alley near the table protecting their fellow comrades. The four that had rushed them were down, but two more had joined the fray, having been the ones manning the initial attack from the roof, Eclipse figured. Others were advancing on them from the side alleys at each end of the restaurant.

“I have a feeling this’ll be over before they get here,” she responded. She was going to pop up and shoot one of the two who had crossed the street, but he had anticipated the movement, forcing her back down with some well-placed shots past her position and into the restaurant debris. Pissed—and taking advantage of a well-aimed shot to his weapon from one of the other ZAFT bodyguards—the redhead put on shot through his right kneecap and one into his stomach. As she was going back to her defensive position, movement from the alley at the far side of the restaurant caught her attention.

Right at their backsides.

And with a clear shot at the commander.

Waltfeld was so occupied with the two new attackers arriving on the scene, he didn’t see the threat until the man was leveling for the shot. She didn’t have a clear shot because his crouched form and the teens were in the way, but she almost risked it, knowing even an injured commander was better than a dead one.

However, one teen wasn’t as helpless as she had expected. 

The purple-eyed kid rounded the table, picked up a fallen firearm, took advantage of his momentum and threw it hard at the attacker all in one motion. It was gun on gun action as the throw knocked the automatic rifle up and left its handler started, but the brunette wasn’t going to let him off that easily. A graceful—yet deadly—kick to the jaw knocked him senseless and ended the ambush with five empty magazines, seven dead aggressors, a destroyed restaurant, and an impressed commander. 

As predicted, the back-up arrived after everything had settled down. DaCosta had finished off a fleeing rebel and was on his way to Waltfeld as Eclipse walked over to one mortally wounded enemy. Deciding on the coup de grâce, the redhead aimed at his forehead and fired, not noticing—or perhaps not caring—the boy was watching the show. Looking up in time to catch his hurt and disgusted expression, she felt a bit angry at his reaction. That man had tried to kill them— _all_ of them—and that dumb teen was looking at her like she was the enemy. When she went berserk he could look at her like that, but not when she was trying to save his ass from getting shot. 

It was downright ungrateful.

“Don’t you even know what a gun is supposed to be used for?” the girl asked, coming over to stand near her friend. She looked hideous. Not in looks, but the chili and yogurt sauce was staining both her hair and clothes so much so it soured her appearance and made her look like a kebab herself. 

But there was still something. The voice maybe?

“Well,” she went on, “whatever the case.”

“Commander! Are you all right?” DaCosta asked, finally reaching Waltfeld.

“Yeah, I’m doing just fine, actually. And it’s all thanks to that guy.” Turning, the commander pointed to the teen who, at the moment, didn’t look too keen on the attention. His muscles tensed and his fists clenched, but still Waltfeld’s confident look wouldn’t falter.

The girl, however, was more worried about the man’s name than his visage. “You mean, we were talking with Andrew Waltfeld?”

Eclipse gasped, instantly recognizing her that time. _Shit._

“The Desert Tiger. It’s him.”

_It’s her. Cags…_

“Well, m’boy, you saved my life. How can I thank you?”

_What the hell is she doing here? What about Orb? What had changed in two years?_

* * *

It wasn’t easy, but Eclipse managed to avoid Cagalli the entire trip back, not wanting to be recognized. Both the blonde and her friend rode with the commander, often exchanging uneasy looks, but Waltfeld never seemed to notice. In fact, he looked quite pleased with himself. Eclipse figured he knew something no one else did, but at the moment she didn’t care. 

If he stayed out of her game of hide and seek, she would stay out of his.

The commander stepped out of his vehicle as soon as they reached headquarters, explaining again to the teens why he insisted they stay for a while. Hesitating once more, they looked at each other again and giving Eclipse a moment to pass by unnoticed. She walked in behind Waltfeld and fled past his “greeting room” when he turned in, praying he didn’t call her in as well. The luck held and she had turned the corner before Cagalli walked through the door. _Hide. Hide. My room. Go. Now._ Hearing Aisha down the hall, she slammed the door behind her and flicked the lock. She shook her head and leaned back once she knew everything was clear. _This has been a strange couple of days; first my brother and then Cagalli. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone was trying to force me back home._ Sighing, she pushed herself towards the bed, grabbed her laptop, and blinked when she saw an envelope fall to the floor. It was sealed shut—which was surprising because usually all mail had to be opened—with no name. Eclipse figured someone had snuck it in, but the question was, why? If it was just a letter to say hi, they were taking extreme lengths. 

So, maybe it was important.

She set her laptop down on the bed, picked up the letter, and began reading.

 _“Al-Jairi’s. 2300. 2/22.”_ Signed, _“Envy.”_

Eclipse looked for further information, but didn’t find any. Being quite unnerved about the situation, she set the paper down next to the laptop and fell sideways onto her pillow. She recognized Envy for being one of the seven sins and just the thought of a SIN-ED member running around in headquarters made her squirm. They had guts alright, to send someone inside a ZAFT command station just to drop off a letter, but why would they be telling her where they’re going to be next? Haven’t they figured out she was the one chasing after them? _Maybe it’s from FS,_ she thought and rested an arm over her eyes. _Then he just wants to talk and it’s not an ambush. Then again, they probably realized I’m the one following them and FS has no other choice than to take me out. If that’s the case, he’d leave Stray behind, maybe take two or three guards with him, and do the whole thing quietly. The time’s predictable, so if this is a trap, the commander wouldn’t find out anything until the next morning. Comforting. But, if it isn’t FS what is it? Is that really something I want to be caught up in? Do I really have a choice?_

Groaning, she rolled off the bed and went to the bathroom. Since she didn’t get her shower that morning, she turned on the water now and hoped it would make her relax—not only that but she had a lot of sand and other things to wash off. The dread was growing the more she thought about it. The word “trap” was screaming louder in her head, which was making the possibility of FS being the one to meet her seem unlikely. FS wanted her alive and she couldn’t help but recall what Le Creuset had hinted at.

Different agendas.

Did they want to meet her and make her a deal? Have her take out FS maybe? _It_ is _my duty to track and destroy SIN-ED…_ she thought with a sigh and braced her arms on the sink. _I’d have to follow Defense Chairman Zala’s orders. Right? That’s what I signed up for._

“Right?” she asked aloud, cursing when she suddenly got terribly angry and her thoughts started to spiral. Ever since she started going after the organization, she has had one hesitation after another. At the time, she had figured she would just keep others from killing her friends and try to talk them back to sanity at the same time. Now, however, she was getting continuingly restless and scared even. Waltfeld was trying to gauge her “significance” and that was making Eclipse think maybe there was something else going on.

“How long for you think it’ll take before ZAFT figures you out?” Greed had said and she shivered at the memory. Maybe FS had been right and ZAFT wasn’t the home she was looking for.

 _So, what should I do? Run to SIN-ED? Try and do things their way while keeping them alive at the same time? Is that even possible?_ She started to undress and paused, her pulse speeding up at the realization. If it _was_ FS at the meeting spot, she would go with him in a heartbeat. There’d be no argument; no nothing.

 _Is that my feeling? Or someone else’s?_ She shook her head, giving a shaky laugh. She was being ridiculous. SIN-ED wasn’t the answer, they were her problem to solve.

…Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I said this I wouldn't take long with this section of the story, apparently I meant it. XD I did more edits to this than I thought I would, but mainly to keep a consistent mindset with Eclipse. But, damn, I love writing Waltfeld so much. He's so much fun. XD
> 
> Anyway, not much to say with this chapter other than, "Welcome to the desert." :D
> 
> See you next chapter and thanks again for taking a moment out of your busy lives to have a read.
> 
> Strata


	26. Chaotic Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to fit into the Waltfeld team and learning that Eclipse might not be alone in the world after all...

** Chaotic Freedom **

“Breck, jump now!” DaCosta ordered, his thumb lingering over the trigger in his BuCUE. His hand twitched in anticipation—however not hard enough to actually fire—but still the newbie’s suit sped just ahead of him and taking a few hits from the enemy machine. “I said jump!”

“I-I can’t, sir. Eclipse knocked out my controls.”

“She what?” In response, a different BuCUE—one painted red for “enemy”—appeared on DaCosta’s right. The greencoat was only able to fire once before the machine leapt over his unit, slicing the main cannon off with its mouth blades. 

Landing on the other side of the stunned soldier, it continued on to find cover behind a sand dune. _Damn, DaCosta has some nice reflexes,_ Eclipse thought, pulling up the suit’s OS to reconfigure booster output and balancers. The shot had hit the belt on her back-right leg, making it nothing more than smoking debris on the field. While the redhead knew the remaining three legs could pick up the slack, she had lost a considerable amount of speed. Not only that, but she couldn’t make such a risky jump again. Increasing the pulling rotation of the front two belts and the back left, she took one more second to check the balance before the greencoat rounded the dune in front of her. He shot a round of bullets, three nicking the red machine’s armor before its pilot put it in reverse. 

“You’re getting sloppy, Eclipse!” DaCosta yelled and switched on his blades. He tried leaping towards the retreating BuCUE and turned on his boosters just as the redhead was about to fire. Her bullets flew harmlessly under the unit.

“Shit!” she cursed and pulled her machine to a dead stop. Knowing sand didn’t have the greatest traction, the move was risky, but—for the most part—she managed to control the BuCUE well enough to stop four yards after braking. 

She was really beginning to like these mobile suits.

The greencoat passed just over head, but had hit his boosters too hard and flew well over his opponent. Saying some colorful words of his own, he tried shifting his blades sideways to clip a part of Eclipse’s unit, but the redhead proved to be the quicker. Having gained some solid footing, she focused all her weight to the front of the suit and kicked with the hind legs, sending DaCosta’s suit flying. It landed a ways away in a heap of metal, not exploding, but not moving either. 

“And Eclipse finally gets a win!” Waltfeld announced into the frequency from his position in the control room, shutting off the simulation. “Perhaps we should switch up the teams again to keep things fresh, but for a while there, I thought you had her, DaCosta.”

“Yeah, didn’t we both,” the greencoat muttered before pulling off his headset and setting it on the console in front of him. They had already done three practice runs and it was only noon. Either that showed how fast the fights went or they had all woken up ridiculously early. Well, Eclipse was out on a morning jog by 0500 and the commander was probably up making coffee by that time too. DaCosta had been doing his rounds, but somehow the name Breck and the phrase “early bird” didn’t seem to go together.

The simulation machine wasn’t set up like others Eclipse had seen previously. This one was a program that was fed directly into the mobile suits through cables, connecting to the OS and the pilots’ helmets. Each individual was sitting in a BuCUE and using the controls of the machine as they trained, both adjusting and getting used to the quirks in their new units as their minds, essentially, were battling. The system was still limited in that the pilots were restricted to their cockpit controls and any sort of power surge could cut the transmission, but it was a nice way to make adjustments without having to do drills outside.

“So, Hall, what happened to you this time?” Waltfeld asked, smirking at the boy as he walked over. “Something about controls?”

“Yeah, yeah, jest all you want, sir. She had one helluva shot,” the pilot remarked, setting his headset next to the others. He seemed pretty comfortable with the commander now and even his language proved the point. It could have been the training sessions, but Eclipse figured it was just Waltfeld’s personality. He could get to know a person quickly and make him just as comfortable. Quite a gift. “I didn’t even think they could get damaged like that,” Breck continued.

“Thank my mechanic classes for that one. I had to learn how these things ticked before I could even get behind the controls of one.” Eclipse walked over near the group and took a deep breath. Training had taken more out of her than she thought. 

“Sounds like a good program then,” DaCosta commented, receiving a rather unpleasant look from Eclipse. If he didn’t know any better, he had made her angry. But, since he did know better, he braced himself for the retaliation, however, she didn’t say anything more. Perhaps she was finally exhausted about the whole thing.

“On that happy note,” the commander began, clearing his throat and stepping between the two officers. “What d’ya say we grab some lunch?”

“And a shower,” Breck muttered. “Who knew virtual reality could cause you to sweat so much?”

The redhead sighed, for once agreeing with the young man. Waltfeld just laughed. “It doesn’t have the word ‘reality’ in it for nothing, y’know.”

“Yeah, but ‘virtual’ has to stand for something.”

“That it’s—uh—virtually impossible to—uh—go through lunch without a cup of coffee. Now let’s grab some grub.” Clapping an arm around the newbie’s shoulders, he led him away, only a small hand wave indicating Eclipse and DaCosta should follow.

They just sighed. “Is he ever serious?” she asked.

“When lives are at stake, yes. However, he’s been extra chipper lately. I blame your addiction for that one; people need to stop encouraging him,” the man groaned.

“Sorry… I think.”

“DaCosta! Eclipse! Let’s go!” Waltfeld yelled, sounding a bit testy about the situation. Maybe Breck had tried to bring up his own addiction. 

Not very wise.

“Yes, sir!”

* * *

Lunch lasted rather longer than anticipated. Much of that could have been because Waltfeld was pounded with status reports, supply sheets, personal requests, and even a sexual harassment charge for an officer from Rika. The claim was liable, but it wasn’t something to be talked over so lightly over lunch. The commander listened patiently, promised to take care of it and then waved her off so he could grab another bite. He had only finished half his lunch by the time another soldier came up to him.

“Remind me never to become a commander,” Breck muttered to Eclipse who merely shrugged in response. She had never thought about it before, but that kind of power had to be appealing to some people. Ordering people around didn’t sound all that bad, but when the responsibility for their lives is thrown into the mix, things tended to get complicated.

“Why don’t you guys relax for a few hours,” Waltfeld suggested when he walked over a few minutes later, issuing a frustrated sigh. “I’ll let you know when we can start the simulations again. Dismissed.”

The three of them nodded, saluted, and then left the cafeteria and their overwhelmed commander behind. “I’ll go find Aisha,” DaCosta announced turning right at the first corner. “She can help him out with the basics.”

“The basics of what?” Breck muttered, elbowing her with a goofy grin on his face.

She just rolled her eyes. _Juvenile._

“So, what do you plan on doing the rest of the day?” the greencoat asked, starting to walk down the hall. 

_I plan on staying as far away from you as I can get,_ she thought, but just shrugged. She could have told him how she was going to research her homicidal friends, but that seemed a bit out of place to. 

What’s a girl to do?

“After freshening up, I was debating between the shooting range and a nap. What’cha think?” he continued without waiting for her to respond.

“Well,” the redhead began, walking about three feet behind him. Unfortunately, he slowed down and waited until they were side by side. “Since you woke up around 0800, I’m thinking you have enough energy to last for the rest of the day. Then again, we’ve been in simulations the entire morning and I can see how you’d be tired.” 

Breck paused and cocked an eyebrow. “Y’know, that didn’t answer my question in the least.”

“Alright, how’s this; given the amount of work the commander seemed to have, we probably won’t start training until well after dinner. That being said, you’ll have enough time to freshen up, go to the range, _and_ take a nap.”

“Oh, well did you want to join me?”

“For the shooting range, fine, if you wanted to go now instead of showering. As for the sleeping thing, I tend to see it as more of a personal achievement.”

“Well—uh—sure, but—”

“The range is this way. C’mon.”

* * *

The rest of the day passed by rather slowly. Dinnertime came around and still Waltfeld was stuck with reports and most of them concerning the attack in the city. The facts showed Blue Cosmos was involved, giving more weight to their dramatic declarations like, “Blue and pure world.” However, what the organization was doing in Banadiya was still under debate. There was no other record of them buying or selling any merchandise in the market and not even that small of a band should have been able to do _that_ much damage. If it wasn’t for the commander’s lackadaisical approach to his tour of the city, they probably wouldn’t even have gotten off a shot. 

“Andy’s not entirely to blame,” Aisha commented, throwing the reports down on the coffee table. “But I’m not happy with him either.”

Eclipse could only nod. The female pilot had asked to talk to the redhead personally as soon as it was obvious simulations would have to wait until the next morning. Not really understanding why, Eclipse had gone along with it and before she had taken her first sip of coffee, she had learned everything about lovers’ squabbles from three months ago up to three years. She even learned a few intimate details giving her good reason to avoid the commander for a few days. _Perhaps I’m easy to talk to,_ the redhead thought, sipping at her glass again.

They were in a side room that looked to be more of a location for receiving guests than an office. A pair of blue sofas sat across from each other, a coffee table between them. The walls were a strange color of olive green and a wall of windows were letting in the evening sun. The green carpet matched the walls, but despite the tacky choice of shade, the fireplace on the far wall added a homely touch that Eclipse found comforting.

“We had discussed the possibility of something like this happening, but he just brushed it off,” Aisha continued, standing and looking out one of the windows. “Yes, everyone likes his easy-going nature—and seeing him so well liked _is_ very alluring—but he has to remember his military position. Plenty of people are after his head and he doesn’t necessarily blend in well.”

“You think he should stop going into town then?”

“No, he needs to know what’s going on, but maybe he could take a few more guards.”

“And have everyone know he’s the commander and start freaking out?”

Aisha sighed, scratching the back of her head as if it made her think harder. “No, you’re right, but there has to be something…”

“He’s basically the dictator here, so people wanting him dead isn’t unusual. Don’t worry, he knows what he’s getting into and—like you said before— _can_ take care of himself.”

“So, it’s wrong for me to worry?”

“Judging by the conversation we’ve been having for the past hour, I’d say you couldn’t stop worrying even if you tried. It’s not a bad thing, but it still messes with the mind after a while.” Eclipse took another drink, realized the cup was empty, and went to get more. That was the good thing about this base.

Always an endless supply of coffee.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, where did you run off to yesterday? Those two kids came in and you bolted.”

“I didn’t think you needed my help,” the redhead responded, startled by the question. She was so surprised she missed putting the sugar into her cup, having it fall into a nice heap on the counter.

Lovely.

“No, but I’m still curious. Afraid I’d be mad about him getting into the fight?”

“It crossed my mind,” she said, meaning for it to be a blatant lie, but once she thought on it a while, it was a good possibility. Her fight or flight response had a tendency to react on its own. Lately the “fight” had been kicking in more often, but perhaps the “flight” had finally come through. Well, it was a smart move anyway.

Aisha laughed, enjoying the thoughtful expression on Eclipse’s face. _At least someone’s happy,_ the redhead grumbled, walking back over to her place on the couch. “Honestly, I knew the girl personally and didn’t want any drama.”

“Really? She was a pretty little thing, that one, and didn’t look too uncomfortable in the dress either. Care to share where you’ve met?”

“Well,” Eclipse paused. Cagalli was the princess of Orb—that she knew—and sharing such information could mean instant danger for her. Despite their fall out, the redhead wasn’t about to let that happen, but what else could she say? Outright lying to a superior was never a good thing to do and neither was withholding information. A lose, lose situation.

Damn, she was getting into a lot of those lately.

Cagalli’s appearance was a mystery, to say the least. She seemed to be by herself—except for that guy she was with—and being so far away from home suggested she either ran away or was forced out. Lord Uzumi was a tough man, so the “kicked out scenario” was plausible, but Cagalli had always been unpredictable and her flying the coop could make sense as well. The only way to really find out would be to ask and that, unfortunately, wasn’t something the redhead was prepared for at the moment. She just sighed.

“Eclipse?”

“Oh—uh—the girl. She’s sorta a relative. Second cousin, really.”

“Cousin? Well, isn’t that curious. How much do you know about her?”

“We haven’t talked to each other in a couple of years—so I don’t know what she’s getting herself into right now—but she’s always been of the adventurous sort. I guess I was just surprised to see her here.”

“I bet that _would_ be unnerving,” Aisha said. “What about that boy who was with her? Know anything about him?”

Eclipse shook her head. “That’s the first time I’ve seen him.”

“Oh, well Andy seems to have taken a liking to him.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, not really, but there’s something about that boy that makes me pause.”

“Did you talk to the commander about it yet?”

“No,” she admitted, setting her empty mug on the table. “There’s an air of eagerness around him I haven’t seen in a while. It’s not exactly a bad thing, so I think I’ll let it go for now.”

“Is that really a good idea?”

“Sometimes it’s best to just let people follow their instincts. Given, you’re still there with a gun to save their ass if anything goes wrong, but—for the sake of their sanity—you have to appease their better nature.”

“So, that’s why you’ve let his coffee addiction go so far?”

“After a while there was no choice. Tell me, who would Andy be without his coffee?”

“You’re right,” Eclipse said, “and his withdrawal symptoms would be downright terrifying.”

* * *

_You have got to be kidding me,_ the redhead thought, staring at the man across from her. _How the hell did I get sucked into this one? I know I like to follow orders, but this is ridiculous._

“May I help you, ma’am?”

 _Ma’am? What, do I look middle aged?_ Eclipse grumbled, glaring into the brown eyes of the salesclerk with a thick English accent. It was about 2000 hours on the 22nd of February, and the rendezvous time with Envy was approaching fast. She had the rest of the evening planned—a nice relaxing time of information gathering—and despite all of that, the commander had come to her personally, handing her what looked like a harmless slip of paper. 

“Uh, excuse me, do you need any help?”

 _Yeah, harmless my ass,_ she thought as she clenched her fists. _I’m going to kill him._

“Ma’am?”

Mentally slapping herself for being so stupid, she brought up her right hand, flashing the piece of paper at the man. _This is embarrassing._

“Uh, yes. Everything on this list then? Right, let’s see: one bag of Kona coffee blend, two French and Italian Roast blends, goat’s milk—why this is for Commander Waltfeld isn’t it?” Eclipse chose not to respond, frustrated by the amused smile on the clerk’s lips. 

_I’m a damned errand boy._

“Well, isn’t it?” All he got was a slight nod, but that was enough to send him running to the back of the store, leaving one very pissed redhead. Out of all the people in the base, he had chosen her to do his “special task,” even giving it the title “Operation Java Time.” 

Pathetic.

“You’re the only one I can trust with such valuable merchandise,” he had said, going on and on about how her own addiction would guarantee the coffee would get to his hands safely and then turning right around to say it was her fault the beans were running low in the first place. In other words, it was her _duty_ to go get some more. 

He had said that all with a straight face too. 

“Here it is.” The clerk came back with two brown bags, each stuffed to its maximum with spices, coffee beans, dried milks, and the like. Even to Eclipse it looked sickening. “Someone must’ve called in ahead of time because it was already packaged up.”

 _Figures._ Fishing out some money, she handed it to the man and took off, not even worrying about the change. After all, Waltfeld was paying.

The trek back wasn’t as grueling as the one to the shop. Her anger could have had something to do with it and, the redhead had to admit, watching people jump out of the way as she plowed down the street was quite fun. However, it would all have to be cut short. Just as Eclipse was thinking of her payback plan to hide the coffee beans—burying them was quickly moving to the top of the list—a young woman ran by trying to get the attention of her husband on the other side of the street. She looked hysterical.

“Shooting—south part of town—warehouse—screaming—” she stammered, falling into the man’s arms as she began to cry. Either she had seen some of the action and was replaying the images or she was just so afraid the tears came automatically. Eclipse didn’t take the time to figure it out. Dropping the bags, she spun around and headed south, pushing aside anyone who got in her way. Many glared and a few shared some unpleasant words, but there was one thing none of them realized; Al-Jairi’s, the rendezvous point, was in the southern part of town.

And the redhead had a feeling she was given the wrong time.

* * *

A shot ricocheted off the wall in front of him, going at a wide enough angle to miss both him and Roan sitting a foot away. Stray smirked. 

The night looked promising.

“Who the fuck is that?” Roan yelled, slipping a fresh magazine into his pistol. “I thought Eclipse was the only one tracking us.” Another scream erupted from behind their cover, causing an involuntary shiver to crawl down Roan’s spine. While their assailant may have lost the advantage before, as soon as the two SIN-ED officers bailed to reload, he had found another good sniping position. That was if he was even a guy. Roan had caught sight of a black ponytail on his last attack, but hair alone wasn’t enough to distinguish sex. 

Either way the assassin was good.

“We have to get out of this corner or we’re dead for sure,” Stray said, reaching up and over the crate to fire blindly. He wasn’t expecting to hit anything, but—judging by the sound of the shots—he had the gist of the enemy’s position. The whole thing was quite unprofessional—then again when had he ever been professional?—and nothing more than an upside down shot over his head and then a few more to empty his magazine. 

Well, it got the job done. 

“It’s only one, damn person!” Roan growled and bolted out of his position. Pistol up, he caught sight of the assassin fleeing to the other side of the warehouse. Apparently, the chef’s instincts weren’t too far off. Steadying himself, Roan took aim and fired, grazing her left shoulder. This time he knew it was a girl. She had let out a soft grunt after the hit and flashed the ponytail again. If he didn’t know any better, Roan would’ve said Eclipse and this assailant were twins, even if his basis was on skills alone. 

Stray had noticed the sound as well and smirked again. He knew it couldn’t be Eclipse because not only had he told Roan the wrong time—and thus informing the redhead incorrectly—she wouldn’t be so reckless as to be standing out in the open and waiting for her prey like this assassin was. If a blind shot in her general direction was enough to make her bolt for better cover, she had been way too exposed. Not something his redhead would risk in a situation like this. _Impressive though,_ he thought. _She has to have a lot of skill and confidence to be standing so open and still kill most of our men._

Roan was going through much the same deductions in his own mind, however, he was smiling. _Damn. We’re an elite group and there’s only two females who are obviously trailing us. How the hell could we be losing men so quickly? Either we’re not as good as we thought we were, or they’re just that impressive._ Chancing a shot, he pivoted and reached around the three crates protecting him to fire. His bullet grazed the crate she was hiding behind, and despite it missing, it was enough to draw her attention. Not exactly a wise move. He twisted around to fire again, but she got her shot off first, a bullet burying itself into his upper thigh and sending him crumbling to the ground.

 _Shit,_ Stray thought.

“G-Gluttony?” A soft voice sounded to the chef’s right, reminding him of the young stowaway who had tagged along. It had been a sloppy overlook on his part for not checking and double checking who had boarded the aircraft. Children weren’t needed on something like this.

Wholesale slaughter.

Before, Stray was angry at the careless move, but now he was worried about the 8-year-old and his trembling hands holding a gun much too big for his fingers. The quivering eyes and blatant horror on his face didn’t help matters—especially when a bullet-ridden corpse fell between them—but what was he to do? He had never been good with the children, despite his own juvenile tendencies, and this definitely didn’t fall under his job description.

Wait, that’s it.

“Tylan, it’ll be fine—” he started, taking a few steps towards him.

“No, it won’t!”

“Tylan, relax.”

Roan groaned again, but it ranged more on the edge of a scream. Stray risked a look behind him and actually cringed. He had seen a lot in his day, but this was downright inhumane. The assassin had a lot of nerve, actually walking up to where Roan was hiding. He saw her head above his own cover, instinctually pulling the boy closer to him. Her walk was mesmerizing, and when she rounded the corner, he noticed the combat knife in her right hand, the sniper rifle strapped around her back, and the stream of blood down her right arm from the graze. At some point, she had put another shot into Roan’s right shoulder and he was breathing sharply, his eyes shifting over to Stray and then up at the newcomer.

The assassin had long black hair, tied back in a ponytail with the ends brushing against the small of her back. Her face was fair and young, probably no older than him, and her thin physique was accented with leather pants and a black halter top. Why she wore leather in this heat was beyond Stray’s comprehension, but she didn’t look the least bit fatigued or uncomfortable. He just swallowed nervously.

Roan’s gun was discarded on the ground to his right and he was leaning back against the crates. Tylan was a whimpering mess in Stray’s arms, his eyes buried in the chef’s cotton shirt as they crouched not far from Roan’s position. They seemed to be the only ones left moving which was a testament to this newcomer’s skill. The assassin made eye contact with Stray once and his breath stopped. He couldn’t tell for sure from that distance, but there was definitely something familiar about that look and he knew better than to intervene.

Bending down and only a few inches from Roan’s face, the girl whispered lightly in his ear, although, Stray was unable to hear the words. “Who are you?” she demanded a moment later, her lips still inches from his face. Roan couldn’t respond, for the first time frozen in fear. The first statement must have been meant for his ears alone and whatever she had said, had stolen his nerves. Cold sweat tricked down his brow and his mouth went dry. 

Not a good sign.

It was almost like a lover’s caress when her hand snaked his jaw line, but the knife’s role was much more sadistic. Resting on the underside of his left knee, one quick swipe tore through the flesh and tendons. Only the assassin’s hand clamped to his mouth saved the world from his agonizing cry as the blood could be heard sloshing onto the ground. Taking it away, she whispered once more. “I’ll ask you again. Who are you?” The other leg was next, but by then Stray had looked away, Tylan’s whimper drawing him back. The poor boy wasn’t immune to the sounds however, his hands rushing to cover his ears when Roan’s leg dropped to the blood on the ground, no more tendons to hold it up. Tylan’s quivering shriek was loud against the silence and Stray heard the gun click as it turned on them.

_Shit._

“Maybe _you’re_ in the mood to talk?” she cooed, her head turning to them next as she rose and slinked in their direction.

Her eyes came in focus as she neared and Stray couldn’t help give a wry chuckle. “This makes so much more sense now. You too? Ironic. You’re what he’s so obsessed with.”

“Quit babbling. Are you a Sin? You look a little weak if you are.”

“And you look a little young to be doing such torture.”

“Shut up,” she growled, firing a bullet through his left foot. The chef bit his bottom lip through the pain, but refused to move. Tylan’s face came in focus then as a rare sense of heroism—or was it desperation?—bubbled in his small body. He dropped his gun in Stray’s lap and moved to kneel in front of him, staring down the barrel of the gun and straight into the eyes of the assassin.

She smirked as her aim shifted and Stray saw her finger twitch. “Stop,” he started, putting his arms around the boy and pulling him back towards his chest. “He’s just a kid and never even attacked you. You’re going to kill him for having a bit of guts?”

“I should,” she said matter-of-factly, even offering a shrug as accent. “But I guess I’m in a good mood today.”

Stray almost started laughing again, still overwhelmed by the irony of it all. He had seen only glimpses of Eclipse’s “talent” and now that he was staring right into the eyes of her could-be twin, he was glad he never had to face her gaze before. It was all so unnerving. Cold, pupiless green eyes stared at him stoically. The black dot had never seemed so human until that moment, and Stray knew he’d never take his colorless eyes for granted again. At least they held something—warmth; the blazing fire of life that this two-toned girl was lacking. Yes, two-toned. He hadn’t noticed it before, but her green eyes were actually separate shades. Her right was a deep forest green, while the other had paled to a few tones shy of white.

“Stop staring.”

“Gluttony, kill—”

“And you shut up,” she ordered, pointing her gun back at Roan sitting against the crates. His skin was such a sick shade of white they were all surprised he was still conscious. The rank smell of vomit proved he was human enough to feel pain, but with the barrel of a gun aimed at his forehead, he probably wished his nerves wouldn’t react to what was coming next.

“Tylan, run and never look back. Call the reinforcements in,” Stray spoke to him, pulling the boy’s eyes to his own as his right hand took Tylan’s gun from his lap. “Now go.” He fled and did as he was told, never looking behind him as he disappeared.

Not even when he heard the gunshot.

The assassin stared down at Roan’s prone body and then over to Stray. At first, she had no idea where he had even gotten the gun, but remembering how the boy had one in his hands, she whispered an, “Oh,” and turned her weapon on Stray instead. “What did you do that for?” she asked, but was more amused by his antics than angry. 

Too much bloodshed can do that to a person.

Roan was as good as dead, Stray’s accurate shot to the temple enough to leave no doubts. It was a bloody mess, but one that made the chef feel a little better about himself. “I’ve been waiting to do that for a long time.”

Her stature changed then, standing straighter as she sheathed her combat knife. “Sure, and that was the plan all along, but you can’t go back unscathed. They’ll accuse you for sure.”

“The boy saw enough.”

“And you think they’ll trust the word of a pipsqueak?” she scoffed, slipping a new magazine into the handgun before putting it back in the holster. Actually, she had been out of bullets, so she couldn’t have killed Roan even if she wanted to.

Perhaps the whole thing had turned out after all.

“Every voice is valid in SIN-ED, just like every child has seen enough to upgrade them into adulthood. They’ll believe him.”

“You still can’t go back like that.”

“What, a busted foot isn’t enough?”

She still wasn’t convinced and she shrugged. “I can do it for you.” Bringing out her handgun once again, she took aim. “Would that make things easier?”

“Perhaps, but I don’t trust your aim.”

“Huh? I’m always dead on.”

“Exactly,” Stray said, “and I’m too juicy of a catch to pass up, so, we’ll do things my way.” Cocking the gun, he pressed the barrel to his right side, careful to have it perpendicular to his body so the bullet would travel from the front and out to the back, not to the inside where the damage would cause a slow death. It would hurt either way but—even though he wasn’t that great with the medical side of things—he was hoping it would look worse than it actually was. Without hesitating, he fired, gasping as he felt the bullet tear through his body. It came out cleanly on the other side, embedding itself into one of the crates. Gut wrenching agony hit him immediately, allowing only a few faint words to escape his lips. “H-how’s that?”

The assassin shrugged, admiring the handwork rather than caring about his well-being. After all, he was the one who wanted to shoot himself. “That might work.”

“Stray!” Eclipse had arrived on the scene at the worst possible moment. Not only was the other female pointing her gun at the SIN-ED member, but there was blood staining his T-shirt and seeping down into the waistband of his pants. Like the chef had hoped, the wound looked atrocious, and if he wasn’t so breathless from the pain, he would have liked to say hello to his fair friend. Instead, he gave the faintest of smiles and fell onto the wounded side. “Stray!” the redhead screamed again and began running towards him.

“No, don’t,” the assassin ordered, catching her by the wrist. Not a good move. Eclipse—already pissed about the ordeal—grabbed her hand and twisted the arm awkwardly. The black-haired girl stifled a yelp before landing a kick on the redhead’s exposed knee. Eclipse buckled and let go. “Quit it, you don’t know the whole story.”

“Like hell I don’t!” Eclipse shrieked. Remaining crouched down, she kicked out wide, swiping her opponent’s feet out from under her. The assassin reacted purely on instinct, bringing her gun around fired at where Eclipse’s head was supposed to be. The redhead had dodged slightly to the left only seconds before, the bullet grazing the top of her right ear instead of hitting the eye socket directly. That mishap would have cost her, but Eclipse was too pissed to care. Taking a second to recuperate, the Berserker brought her own handgun up and aimed straight ahead. The other girl by this time had put some distance between them and was on her feet, locking gazes at the end of her barrel. 

A “movie moment” was the best way to describe it. They stood there, two trained assassins with semi-automatics pointed at each other’s forehead, fingers lightly on the trigger. They were breathing hard, but not from exhaustion; if anything it was from excitement. Time trickled away and no matter how bad Eclipse wanted to run over to her fallen friend, the greatest threat was standing across from her. 

Eclipse didn’t know what to make of it. Two-toned eyes matched her grey ones, the coldness in that stare seeming to freeze the air around them. It was merciless, fearless, and most of all, lifeless. 

“So that’s what I look like,” the assassin mused.

“What are you,” Eclipse asked, trying to mask the smirk curling up her lips. Ironic how the Berserker half found this all so amusing.

The girl chuckled. “Funny. Tell me, why did you say, ‘what are you’ instead of, ‘who are you’? Am I really that unusual?”

Eclipse didn’t reply. Why had she said that? Perhaps the whole thing was unnerving, even now when she was staring at her mirrored half. Or maybe it was _because_ she was staring at her mirrored half. 

It all made sense.

“You’re just like me,” Eclipse said.

“Or maybe you’re like me. It all depends on perspective, really. At any rate, where do we go from here? We’re both after SIN-ED.”

“You shot Stray.”

“Who, Gluttony? No, he did that to himself,” the assassin corrected, blinking a few times at her counterpart’s curious gaze. “What, didn’t you know? This whole thing was staged and he performed beautifully, did he not? Think about it. Not only was Al-Jairi a weapon’s smuggler, he had great connections with the Earth Forces and now SIN-ED has them. A perfect situation, really. They ordered me to kill their rat—which Gluttony did by the way—and found a valuable spot all in the same night. They have a pretty foot in the pool of chaos.”

“How poetic,” Eclipse spat, feeling her arm grow tired from the strain, however, she was too stubborn to let it fall. Not until this _other_ Berserker did it first.

“It was, wasn’t it? And even more true.”

“So, you’re telling me Al-Jairi’s dead?”

“Well, he’s not as alive as he used to be.”

“Did you play a part in that?”

“No,” the assassin admitted. “SIN-ED took care of that themselves. I was just sent in with the clean-up crew.”

“So, who did you ‘clean up,’ then?”

She nodded her head down at the body near her feet. “Envy.”

Eclipse’s heart stopped. If Envy had been FS—like she originally thought—that meant he was the body on the floor near the girl. Someone had shot him in the head so a firm identity was hard to make and she felt her heart race at the thought. So, she had arrived too late. Did a coup already happen? But wait, why would Stray join in to kill FS? That’s one thing he would never do and from what she had been hearing, this whole thing was a huge set-up of some kind. But not for FS, right?

“Do you know Envy’s real name?” she asked.

“Uh, Reon? Rain? Rune? Something like that.”

“You’re sure—” Eclipse paused. Others were coming their way, noticeable by not only their stampede-like nature, but by the sound of vehicles. Eclipse would have guessed the ZAFT army had arrived, but the assassin claimed otherwise.

“SIN-ED back-up. We’d better get out of here.”

“How d’you know?”

“I don’t, but either way we can’t be caught in this bloodbath.”

“Fine, but tell me something first. Who the hell are you?”

“The name’s Namarra Legund. You?”

“Lunar Eclipse.”

“Well, Lunar Eclipse, it was a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. Maybe next time we’ll actually work together.”

“Maybe, but if you screw up, I’ll kill you.”

Namarra smirked. “Spoken like a true Berserker. Y’know, I think I may be able to tolerate you after all.”

“Quick question before our little party’s crashed.”

“Hm?”

“Bob?”

The assassin blinked. “Bob… Bob… Uh… Oh! Yeah! Good one huh?”

“So that was you?”

Namarra smirked, her Berserker eyes squinting in delight. “I think you’ll find I’m always up for a little fun. Aren’t you?”

The Berserker found herself matching the grin.

* * *

“How’d it go?” Stray asked, wincing as he attempted to sit up in bed. It had been a long and painful couple of days, most likely involving blood transfusions, needles, anesthetics, and some very colorful cursing. Or was it prayers? He had no idea anymore. At any rate he owed Miato big. Not only was he a skilled mechanic, he could work just as well with humans. Maybe he would buy him a drink later.

FS just pushed him back down onto the bed. “Lie still,” he ordered, but a slight smirk was on his lips. Apparently, everything had gone smoothly. The officer’s meeting had taken place the day before, almost immediately after Stray was stable. Tylan had come in to be a witness, and the final verdict had just been passed. That’s why FS was in the room. Not only to check on his comrade, but to celebrate.

“Did they buy it?”

FS nodded and suddenly burst out laughing. His orange eyes glowed and even sparkled with amusement, but there was something behind that pleasant smile. “It was so easy,” he gasped. “No one is even sorry that jackass is gone. In fact, they had been waiting for us to knock him off!”

“So, you’re telling me we wasted all that time worrying for nothing?”

“Exactly! And the best part about this is we can finally do what we please. No one is going to question us and—seeing as most of them are going insane from boredom anyway—they’re so eager for some action, any order would suffice.”

“What’re you planning on then?” Stray asked, fiddling with the IV in his arm. It felt weird under his skin and even weirder when he would pull it back and forth. 

Fascinating.

“I dunno, a ZAFT base? Carpentaria? Gibraltar? How about a PLANT? Should we go straight for Aprilius 1?” He laughed again, slapping at the teen’s hand when he tired messing with the IV again. “This is perfect! If we took some troops to Aprilius, we can sneak into a council meeting and slaughter them in a matter of seconds. How well would the army be organized after that? Hell, if that’s too risky, we could help the Earth Forces recapture Victoria and then as soon as we gain enough supporters and weaponry, we can rebel and have a base all to our own. That’s a lot better than the shack we’ve been living in for the past few months.”

“What do you plan on doing about Lexi?” Stray asked, a bit unnerved by his friend’s outburst. “Does she fit in anywhere?”

“I’m not going to have her killed,” FS replied. “I’d be pissed if she killed more people, but I’d never be able to pull a gun on her.”

“But _you_ wouldn’t have to do it.”

“Ah, but I would. The only way she’s dying is if it’s either you or me putting a bullet to her head, you understand?”

“But you can’t—"

“Yes, Jaeger. Can’t you see? We have ultimate control over SIN-ED. There’s no holding back, no more hesitation, and definitely no more anxiety. This is the closest to freedom we’ve come to in a long time.” 

Stray couldn’t reply. What was there to say? He had never seen his comrade like this and, frankly, he didn’t want to see it again. “Eager” wasn’t the right word and even “excited” seemed to downplay the look in his eyes. Sure, they could finally start destroying people without Roan looking over their shoulders and contradicting everything. They could even play it smart by working on the small fry, creating minor panic, and then going right for the finale. Despite the mania in FS’s eyes, he was right.

They were finally free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I just love this part of the series so much... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried to spruce up the battles a little bit, but kept as much of the original as I could. If anything is confusing, just let me know. I've been trying to keep it clear who is who for the Sins in SIN-ED, but whether or not I am succeeding is a different matter entirely. Just let me know if that's not the case.
> 
> As for the chapter itself, here's the fateful meeting between Eclipse and Namarra in what can really only be described as destiny. XD 
> 
> More Banadiya to come in the next chapter, so I do hope you're enjoying reading about the Waltfeld team. They are just so much fun...
> 
> See you again in the next chapter and if you have any thoughts to share, just let me know! Would love to hear from ya.
> 
> Onwards and upwards.
> 
> Strata


	27. Scatterbrained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Berserkers on the mind, Eclipse tries to get competent with her BuCUE in time to verse the Archangel.

** Scatterbrained **

_Namarra. Who is she?_

_Crash._

Eclipse cursed.

“You’re not paying attention, Eclipse! Get your head back in the game!” Waltfeld yelled, clearly ticked about the redhead’s lack of enthusiasm. “I didn’t agree to not self-destruct this time just to have you get soft on me. You wanted a two-on-two match, so here it is.”

“Yes, and how kind of you to stay through the whole simulation, sir, instead of chickening out and leaving Eclipse hanging dry,” DaCosta said, muttering something under his breath before the transmission ended.

It was another training session between the two new pilots of the Waltfeld crew and the two senior ones; Eclipse and the commander vs. DaCosta and Breck. So far, it was a close match. Breck had greatly improved since their last duel and despite Waltfeld’s tactics, Eclipse wasn’t able to get in a decent attack on either of them. 

“Damnit, Eclipse. Where the hell are you?” the commander spat, silently cursing again when he saw the words “Signal Lost” flashing where his partner’s beacon was supposed to be. “Alright, simulation over. That was pathetic, Moon-girl!” The new nickname raised more eyebrows than anger gauges, but his point was made. Sure, the redhead had done squat—and the commander’s abrupt self-destruction proved she hadn’t earned her cup of coffee for that day—but with another Berserker on the loose, how was she supposed to concentrate?

_Namarra Legund. I wonder how many others there are…_

“Eclipse! For fuck’s sake, how many times must I say your name?” Waltfeld asked, setting his helmet down rather harshly on his console. If she had looked to her right, she would have most likely seen him red-faced and cursing from his BuCUE, but not even she had the guts in that moment. “DaCosta, Breck, you two go grab some lunch. Moon-girl, you’re coming with me.”

The other two saluted and fled, leaving the redhead behind sighing. “Yes, sir.”

At first, she didn’t think she would get her dosage of caffeine, but as soon as an extra-large mug was slapped onto the table in front of her, she offered of a quick prayer of thanks and took a sip. It may not have been what she needed at the moment, but it was damn close.

They were in the same room she had sat in with Aisha, the commander off to the Eclipse’s left next to the fireplace and the slab of stone sitting on top. Eclipse didn’t know what it had been before, but she now knew the replica as “Evidence 01” but nothing more about it. She didn’t ask anyway, it wasn’t a conversation she wanted to get into at the moment. 

Waltfeld walked over from her right, plopping down on the opposite couch and setting his mug on a napkin. “Alright, what’s got your head in a spin? You’ve _never_ zoned out that bad and especially not in training. If it’s going to be this way in our huge fight against the _Archangel—_ ‘Legged Ship,’ whatever—then let me know and I’ll keep you locked up here. You’re going to get people killed, Eclipse.”

“It was just a simulation, sir.”

“Hah, good one. When did you pick up the bad attitude? Certainly not on my watch ‘cause I’d have slapped that out of you the first time it reared its ugly head. Now tell me what’s going on, or I’m shipping you back to the dimwits at Gibraltar. Maybe they can find a few toilets for you to scrub.”

She watched him take another sip of his coffee, impressed with how calm he looked on the outside. Eclipse knew he was angry—positive, actually—but his appearance never betrayed him. Another one of his gifts, it seemed.

“Does this have something to do with your failed shopping mission yesterday?”

Her look alone could have given her away and she didn’t try to mask it, so he had gotten much of the answer even without her saying anything. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go into more detail, however, debating just murmuring something like, “I’m working it out; I’ll be fine,” but bit her tongue. He had been nothing but kind to her ever since she arrived—unless she counted being blackmailed into doing errands and getting caught in the local shooting—and telling him some lie would be disrespectful. Ultimately, she just sighed.

“Not going to tell me?”

“Don’t know how.”

“Relationship stuff?”

“H-huh?” She blushed. “N-no!”

“Well, that crosses off option one,” he muttered and lowered the cup from his lips. There was a small smile there, but Eclipse wasn’t amused in the least. “Family problems?” he continued. “Aisha told me the girl we met the other day was a cousin of yours.”

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about that a little, but it’s not enough to hinder my battle performance, sir.”

“Really? Then what is? It has to be pretty big, I’m thinking.” When she still refused to respond, he sighed and got to his feet, carrying the mug with him. “I’ve got all day, so take your time. You’re not leaving here until I’m convinced you won’t be redefining the phrase ‘friendly fire.’”

 _It’s not that simple,_ she kept reminding herself, clenching her fingers around the glass. _How can I just sit here and talk about something like this?_

An awkward moment passed while they said nothing. Waltfeld stood over by the fireplace, one arm bent on the sill and holding his cup as the other traced the rim with a finger. Eclipse stayed seated on the couch, huddled over and staring at the floor. She was still debating whether or not to talk about her run-in with SIN-ED. Actually, she realized, he should probably know all about that. If he was her commanding officer, even on loan, she should be reporting to him what she had witnessed anyway. Or was that just a Commander Le Creuset thing? Waltfeld had never even breached the subject of her side mission. In fact, he often kept her so busy there wasn’t a chance for her to even be looking into them.

She put down the mug on the table and sighed, her palms covering her face. When did it all get so complicated?

“Here, maybe this’ll break the ice.”

Eclipse didn’t notice him moving at first, but as soon as she saw him on one knee in her left peripheral vision she literally jumped from her seat. In his right hand he held a velvet box—apparently, there was no more need for coffee—one he gingerly opened up and held before her eyes. A dainty but elegant ring lay inside, its diamond reflecting the sun’s rays onto the coffee table near Eclipse’s right hand, leaving her speechless at its beauty and faint by his actions. “Will you marry me?” he asked, a sincere—and even innocent—look in his eyes. She could’ve sworn they sparkled and that thought alone made her nervous. His mouth twitched with anticipation, but his pose never faltered.

He was serious.

“W-what the—”

Laughter. 

Maybe not so serious.

“How was it? Good?” he wondered, getting to his feet abruptly and brushing off the front of his khakis. “Do I need to change the tone in my voice? Deeper perhaps?” Putting the box back into his pocket, he patted it lightly as if to make sure it was really in there. The smile returned, showing he was proud of the gesture. 

If only everyone in the room felt the same. 

“Uh, Eclipse?” he asked, reaching out to touch the prone soldier cowering on the couch. “My goodness you’re pale. You okay?”

Gulping once, the redhead finally found the strength to shake her head and sit straight, although she had moved a few feet away from her commander. “You call that ‘breaking the ice?' I think you created a damned iceberg.”

“Oh, sorry. Wait, you thought I was serious?” He blinked, brought a hand to his chin and stroked it thoughtfully. “Hm, I must be better than I thought.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Ah, there’s that attitude again.”

 _Damn, he’s worse than Heine,_ she thought with a sigh, grabbing her mug and taking a huge swig. She _had_ to get something stronger later, or she’d be scarred forever.

“No, really; what’cha think?”

“For Aisha, fine. For me, drop the ring, stand up and walk away.”

“Point taken,” he said, retaking his seat on the other couch. Sitting down arrogantly—if that was even a way to sit—he remembered to grab his mug before putting it to his lips, sipping, and then humming in admiration. 

Eclipse had never been so happy to for a coffee table in all her life.

“I have one more question before we switch topics back to your lovely life. Give the ring before, or after?”

“Before or after what, sir?”

Waltfeld sighed and took another, longer drink. Suddenly, he was serious and his face looked grave. “I have a feeling the _Archangel_ will be making its move soon and I’m not about to let them hit the Red Sea unscathed. If anything, I have a score to settle with the Strike pilot.”

Darker thoughts than marriage were on his mind and his raw concern jarred her for a moment. When you’re stuck in the middle of a war with a powerful enemy on your doorstep, perhaps the idea of death or those close to you dying wasn’t always too far from the surface. Eclipse felt her own pulse quicken at the thought, not quite sure how even she would be able to handle it if he or anyone else she had gotten close to over her time here was to die.

"You worried?” she asked, eager to pull her mind back to the conversation and keep it from spiraling.

“About dying? Nah, it comes with the territory, but I don’t want anyone else to if I can help it. That’s why I’m so tough on you guys in training. I’d say, ‘don’t take it personally,’ but if you get killed, _I’ll_ be taking it personally. Capiche?”

Eclipse was touched; who wouldn’t be? He was genuinely concerned about her well-being and when was the last time someone did that? “After,” she said, startling him with the abruptness of the answer. “After the battle you can propose. Who wants to say yes with something this huge on the horizon?” 

The commander looked at her thoughtfully, half-expecting her to have said ‘before.’ “Well, maybe—”

“Here, you watch my back, and I’ll watch yours, capiche?” 

The smile he gave was priceless—blame it on the word—as well as the heart-warming look in his eyes. Much like during his proposal, his gaze burned with anticipation, but it was filled with more respect than actual love. At that moment, they finally understood each other; trusted the other to uphold the bargain Some might call it “touching”—while others may tell Eclipse she was long overdue for such a comrade—but for the redhead it was a sign she might be getting too attached to this place.

Eclipse broke the look first, finishing off the mug in one, quick swig. “Fine then,” she decided, saying the words aloud, but cursed when she realized his ploy. He had disclosed something personal, and now she had to return the favor. A classical, psychological maneuver and she was about to plunge headlong into it.

But maybe he knew something.

“Sir, what do you know about Berserkers?”

“Hm? That’s an interesting question,” he muttered as he crossed his right leg over his left, resting his head on an upraised hand. “Honestly, I don’t know what to believe. There’s hints of them everywhere—that Strike pilot for example—and then there’s supposedly genetic proof you’re one.”

Genetic proof? Her file must have been updated if that was the case and Waltfeld apparently knew a lot more than he was letting on.

“Wait, you think that Strike pilot’s one?”

“He showed—”

“He?” she interrupted.

“Yes, he. That young man the other day was the pilot, but anyway,” he continued, waving off the confusion on her face. “When him and the team met last, he was able to adjust his mobile suit mid-battle—take into account the heat convection and difference in terrain—while not getting killed in the process. As you know, that’s even impressive by Coordinator standards. Also, he turned downright savage after it all, destroying two BuCUEs and then leading the other three into a death trap,” Waltfeld went on, most likely seeing that Eclipse wasn’t impressed. “I’ve never seen someone fight so… desperately.”

 _Desperately,_ she thought, hating how it always seemed to come up when people referred to Berserkers or even just soldiers in general. “Individuals can do anything when they’re desperate,” FS had said. _Or at least something similar,_ she corrected and shifted the cup in her hands. _So, desperation is the backbone—or at least a vertebra—of war, and the backbone of that is fear. If we take away fear, does that mean wars will cease? But how can a person take away a basic human emotion? Wait,_ Eclipse realized, stopping the mug at her lips, _FS said he wanted to stop people’s urge to fight. Does that mean they’ll use fear as their main source? Judging by their recent antics, they’re trying to increase the citizens’ fear, but how much can one person take? Will they keep pushing the boundary until they snap and have no other option than to push for peace?_

“Mind telling me what direction those gears of yours are turning?” the commander asked, watching her intently; however, there was a slight smile on his lips. He knew she was still holding back, but the exact contents of her internal dialogue he could only speculate. She was always conflicted with something, he realized, and that only made his curiosity grow.

“Huh? Oh, I was just remembering a conversation between me and some friends. We can save that for another time.” She waved her hand absently to shoo the topic away and Waltfeld’s smile dipped into a frown. He didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark. “What I really want to know now is what you know about Berserkers,” she continued despite his displeasure.

“Ah, well another time it is then and I _will_ hold you to that.” He pointed a finger at her to accent his point and she nodded. It was better than a shrug, so he decided that was good enough. “As far as Berserkers go, all of that genetic proof mixed with the fables I’ve been taught since I was a child makes this subject nothing more than a jumbled mess.”

“So, you don’t think they exist?”

“I think certain people here have the ability to imitate them, but only to an extent. Here, see this coffee? I can see it, smell it, feel it, _and_ taste it, therefore, it’s real. Now, love—not a tangible thing—is real because I can feel it.”

“But what if I say I don’t believe in love because I’ve never felt it.”

Waltfeld thought about that for a little bit, as if he was gathering up the right words. Perhaps it was all just too hard to explain. “Well, you’ve always felt it, just different kinds.”

“So, you’re saying because you’ve never seen a Berserker or have felt what it’s like to be one, they don’t exist.”

“Like I said, their capabilities do, but a _true_ Berserker doesn’t. If the myths are correct, that kind of person would bring down humanity before attempting to help it; and _you_ don’t seem like that kind of person.” He smiled before continuing. “I believe in people accomplishing things by nothing more than the sweat from their brow.” He paused. “Hah! That probably puts me in a bad position seeing as I’m a Coordinator and the commander of a ZAFT squad. I basically said I don’t believe in my own existence.”

His cynicism didn’t surprise her as much as it probably should have. He had shown similar disdain in the past and she was starting to see it wasn’t a fluke. “You don’t like this war do you, sir?”

Waltfeld stopped laughing then, putting back on his serious face, standing, and then walking over to the window. “It’s nothing more than legal genocide on steroids,” he spat as he pushed aside the curtain to peer outside. “However, I’m not about to stop fighting just because I don’t approve of mass murder.”

“Trying to protect everyone?”

“It may sound corny, but it’s the truth. Who are people without the existence of other people?”

“It just sounds too noble and idealistic at the same time,” Eclipse said.

“In a war, idealism isn’t a bad thing,” he explained with a wink. “Pessimism will get you killed and optimism will get you killed with a smile on your face. At least in one way you’re happy.”

The redhead sighed and just drank her coffee. After all, how could she respond to something like that?

* * *

“Eclipse, for the last time, what the _hell_ are you doing?” Waltfeld yelled. Honestly, the redhead wasn’t doing poorly, it was the matter of his plans not working—thanks to the opponents knowing the commander so well—and Eclipse trying to make the best of the situation. If a duel attack wouldn’t work, or their formation broke prematurely, she would attempt to salvage what she could by slowing DaCosta’s advance or tripping up Breck. However, no matter how hard she tried, Waltfeld would still gripe. It all seemed very out of character, but Eclipse was in no position—at the time—to have a heart-to-heart chat. “Go, now!” he insisted.

She did just that. Staring at DaCosta’s approaching BuCUE, she waited until the two were about 100 yards apart before turning sideways and skidding to a stop. The sand flew about 20 yards to catch the other machine mid-sprint and blinding him for a few moments. The greencoat managed to fire two shots from the 2-barrel railgun mounted on top of his unit, but only one nicked the right leg of Eclipse’s machine.

“Jump!” Waltfeld ordered, sliding under her BuCUE and using his beam sabers to slice through the upper torso of DaCosta’s suit. The whole thing was quite impressive and even the greencoat’s loud “Damn,” was filled with more admiration than frustration. Now there was only one unit left, but that didn’t mean anything anymore. If given another chance, both Breck and DaCosta would have Eclipse beat five minutes into the simulation, instead of her embarrassing them in the same amount of time. Perhaps she was finally accepting the skilled newbie.

“Where’d you last see Breck?” the commander asked, positioning his BuCUE at the redhead’s rear “I lost sight of him as soon as you skidded.”

“I’m assuming he isn’t in a good location. That jump was the most vulnerable move I could’ve done and he didn’t even fire while I was in the air.”

“Hiding then?”

“To our east, most likely. There’s the best cover, but the worst visuals in that direction.”

“All right, good observations, kid. I’ll attack from the north, you come around from the south.”

“Yes, sir.” Eclipse had never been one to hand out praise, but Breck’s attack deserved at least a pat on the back. He wasn’t in the east as originally thought. Behind a dune not 15 yards away, he shot a beam through the sand and managed to hit the undamaged battery pack in DaCosta’s downed machine. The unit exploded under Eclipse’s and the commander’s feet, causing them to jump wide and the force of the explosion keeping them off balance as they landed. 

“What the he—” Waltfeld began but was silenced after two well-placed shots to his railgun and then to the battery pack. His BuCUE exploded in a collage of colors, but the only one admiring it was Eclipse. Breck had cleared the dune and had already fired a shot by the time she noticed his position. Ducking just in time, the beam went through her railgun instead of the body, but now all she had were blades. Bringing a sword to a gun fight was never a good idea. Cursing, she used her only option and fled,

“Damn, that was nice,” both the commander and DaCosta praised, having abandoned their machines and ventured down to the control room to watch. “If I hadn’t been the one killed, I’d be buying you a drink, but, hey, I have a bad habit of holding grudges.”

“Yeah, well at least you weren’t the teammate he blew up,” the greencoat grumbled, but was ignored.

“You’re on your own now, Eclipse,” Waltfeld said into the headpiece, knowing the transmission was relaying loud and clear. In the end, the redhead wasn’t going to be too happy. “Maybe you can finally prove to me you were a good choice. As it stands, you’re nothing but a rookie about to be slaughtered by someone who should be wearing your red uniform.”

DaCosta thought it sounded a bit harsh, even from someone who was a jerk at three in the morning. After all, she was one of the best pilots they had at the moment. “Uh, comm— ” he began, but an upraised hand stopped his comment. 

Waltfeld knew what he was doing. “Why not convince me you’re more Berserker than the Strike pilot and maybe I’ll stop trying to coax him to take your spot.”

 _What?_ Eclipse thought, both surprised by the statement as well as finding herself increasingly pissed as she pulled up the OS of her machine. She had seen the Strike in battle, and no matter how much the commander praised him before, he was more of a virgin to death than she was in all pretenses of the word. What had he done? Blew a hole in his home colony, took a few ballet lessons with Athrun, kidnapped his pink-haired fiancé, and fell through the atmosphere to, most likely, fall asleep on a feathery bed for a week. Probably got room service too because he’s the only decent fighter on that damned ship. Now, that compared to what Eclipse had done made her laugh. _Him_ a real Berserker? She had a degree—if that’s what they wanted to call it—in torture and execution with the highest grade point average to boot. She nearly chopped off a man’s head with a wire, stabbed someone through the skull then continued to clean up the murder scene, and laughed at the foolishness of two comrades as they were torn apart in Heliopolis. To add to the list, she was apparently the deadliest thing this side of eternity and her two best friends were psychopaths. 

Now, who was the real thing?

 _Hah, get him a diaper ‘cause he’s not even potty trained,_ she thought, searching her cameras for Breck. After everything that had been happening lately, the newbie’s untimely demise looked rather appealing. Namarra’s antics had enticed Eclipse’s sour nature and her having left the scene with no deaths to her name had made the Berserker rather restless. Given, this was just training—and virtual reality gave more meaning to the word “fake” than wax fruit—but the little things in life had always made her happy; even if it involved large explosions and gory images.

 _There we go,_ Waltfeld thought and smiled wryly. Nothing was too visible on the screen, but the difference between her machine now and how it was a few moments ago was interesting to note. It seemed more relaxed—comfortable even in its surroundings. No fidgeting, no hesitation, just basic familiarity. _Sorry Eclipse, but curiosity and all that. I_ am _a cat, you see, and it was very tempting._

“Sir?” DaCosta asked, noting the smile dancing on his lips. If the greencoat would’ve known any better, he might have been scared.

“Nothing. Just watch.”

It was quite an interesting show. Breck came out of hiding first, knowing where the redhead was and advancing on her first. Apparently, he thought he still had the upper hand. Little did he know, he was terribly outmatched and the thing waiting for him behind the dune wasn’t human. 

Actually, it was a powered down BuCUE and open cockpit.

 _Huh?_ he thought and frantically searched his cameras. Was that even possible? This was a simulation, not a real battle. They were all stuck in their suits both inside the simulation and out. Had she surrendered? Nothing had indicated she left the battle and no signal was being detected outside his suit. With all the rising heat, he couldn’t pick up something as small as a human being anyway. Cursing lightly, he backed up with eyes straining on the screens.

At least until they all went black.

“What the—” he began, but the next thing to go was his rear left leg, buckling his machine down to the ground. It whined with the effort, sounding more like a scream, considering the circumstances. _What’s going on? This shouldn’t be possible. Did someone rewrite the program?_ the pilot thought, struggling to get some visuals back on the screen. Not even the OS came through.

A front leg went next, causing him to whimper in fear. _Was she below?_ _Damnit! Work! Work!_ Grasping the controls, he shook them violently, even hearing a few wires snap because of his antics. 

_Thunk._

Breck froze, hearing the banging from above him.

_Thunk._

This time it was to his right, but, for some reason, the hatch never opened. The Berserker was obviously trying to get in, but why was she stalling? He had nothing—not even his ejection seat was working—so why hesitate?

_Thunk._

Finally, it was forced open, squealing on the hinges to reveal the helmet of a ZAFT soldier and the simulated scenery behind her. His eyes grew wide. They were still in the simulation?

“Waltfeld says you have the skills of an elite, so, let’s see what you look like in red.” Bringing up her pistol, Eclipse rested the barrel gently against the glass of his helmet and smiled. In any other instance it may have seemed like a mother’s look to her child before she pulled off a Band-Aid.

No matter what, it always hurt.

“Die.”

Breck barely had the chance to swallow before he closed his eyes. Unlike other people, he wasn’t brave enough to stare his impending killer in the face.

_Bang._

Nothing.

He opened one eye and saw that her simulated form was gone.

Breck took a steadying breath and took off his helmet, returning to reality in time to register that his cockpit was open and a semi-automatic pistol had fallen onto his lap.

“Shit, it was real?" Breck heard DaCosta say. "Woah! Damn, this girl has good reflexes. Commander, go around—” 

A struggle was commencing near the front of his machine and he swallowed. DaCosta and Waltfeld had somehow climbed Breck’s BuCUE and stopped the redhead before she could kill the young pilot. _Actually_ kill the pilot. It hadn’t been a simulation. Or, had it? He didn’t know anymore; it all seemed too surreal.

The two older officers had started running over when they realized Eclipse had rewritten the simulation program, allowing herself to walk around freely and disassemble Breck’s real machine from the outside. DaCosta had gotten there first and pushed the firearm wide, knocking her helmet enough to break the connection in the same motion, but Eclipse had retaliated. Using the momentum from the shove, she had spun 360 degrees and nearly decked the greencoat across the face. Only his own reflexes saved him from that embarrassment. 

Waltfeld had trapped her then, locking her arms in a full Nelson and lifting her off the ground. “DaCosta, the helmet. Get it off her,” he ordered, grunting when she swung her head back and almost hit him. The commander weaved his fingers to the back of her neck after that.

Breck took another steadying breath as he gazed. She had mixed simulation with reality and nearly killed him. _Him._ A teammate.

_Holy shit._

* * *

_Déjà vu,_ the redhead thought, staring at the coffee table and untouched mug sitting there as her hand massaged the back of her neck. Waltfeld stood leaning against the couch across from her, finishing the last bit in his glass. Either he was thirsty or nervous.

Honestly, she figured it was nervousness.

“What did you _do_?” he finally asked. “You _rewrote_ the simulation program and blended it with reality. I didn’t even think something like that was possible but there you were destroying Breck’s BuCUE on the outside, yet you were still _inside_ the simulation. The thing was moving and still you managed to snip a few wires and render him useless. How the _fuck_ did you manage that?”

“Well, I’m glad you’re impressed, sir,” Eclipse muttered, still trying to gather her own thoughts on the ordeal. She didn’t remember much, if she was honest, but the ending she remembered quite well. She could still see the fear in Breck’s eyes. Taking a steadying breath, she didn’t like how grim and serious the atmosphere had gotten. Teammates don’t often see that side of her, so perhaps the dark mood was warranted.

She watched him carefully. Was her performance a good thing in his eyes? Or the opposite?

“Do you think the Strike pilot is still in the running after seeing all of that?” she asked bitterly.

“You had a loaded gun pointed at a comrade’s forehead and didn’t even hesitate to pull the trigger. That kid couldn’t even aim a gun let alone fire one.” The commander just shook his head and went to the table to fill another glass. “So, can you do that whenever you want?”

“No.”

“Are you able to do all of that—what you just did, I mean—now, or only when you’re berserk?”

She sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve never done that before.”

“How long are you like that? Can it last hours or even days?”

“It varies, but I’ve never had it last days.”

“How’re you at—”

“Sir,” Eclipse interrupted, rubbing her aching neck and forehead. He was like a four-year-old at Christmas and, hopefully, she wasn’t the Barbie doll he wanted to behead and dissect. His reaction was definitely different than others she had come across, but she still wasn’t necessarily happy with his excitement. “Please, you know as much as I do and, frankly, I’m a bit unnerved by your enthusiasm.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed, picking out a comfortable spot on the couch across from her. “You have to understand, though, I needed to know what you could do. I’m a man of strategies, and your… unusual talent was a huge mystery to me. It was a risk I couldn’t afford.”

“Even though you didn’t believe I existed?” she asked.

“You have capabilities, Eclipse, and maybe even enough to send the Strike running. I had to know.”

“Yes, I understand, sir,” she replied routinely and looked at the floor. A part of her had hoped he didn’t care about that other half and judging by their conversation that morning, her hope had been well-placed. Lately, she had been feeling like an alien on display for a crowd of tourists with the only thing missing being a chain around her neck. Everywhere she was being judged—whether it be on how well she performed in battle, or how fast she could repair a mobile suit—and people’s fascination with her had become redundant. Now, to add to the list, was the other assassin and fellow Berserker, Namarra Legund. _I wonder if the same thing happens to her,_ she mused, finally grabbing her mug and taking a sip.

“Obviously, I upset you.”

She looked at him, suddenly realizing something that she didn’t think she had before. Despite admiring the Berserker part of her when she had landed on Earth, the fact that even this commander had wanted to see it—wanted to test it—made her stomach drop. She didn’t want to be special and especially not for something as sadistic as what was part of her. “It’s not something I’m proud of, sir.”

“Why not? Don’t you have the power to protect both your friends and yourself? Survival, after all, is the one thing soldiers cling to in war; you just have a heightened sense of it.”

“Protect? Is _that_ what you think I was trying to do? No, sir, I don’t want it.”

“Funny, I don’t think you would’ve snapped like that if you didn’t. You were pretty offended when I said you weren’t good enough to be considered a Berserker.”

“I never seem to have a say in how that part of me reacts. It kinda… comes out on its own.”

“You can’t control it?”

She shook her head and shrugged at the same time. “Kinda, I think, but not really sure.”

The commander sighed. She either wasn’t going to give him any more information or she didn’t have any. The mood had shifted again and perhaps his little stunt had gone too far, seeing her gaze fall to the floor. There was something about this he wasn’t understanding and as much as it bothered him, there was nothing he could do about it in that moment.

Sighing again, he took a long sip, waiting to see if Eclipse would bring up any more of the topic, but when the atmosphere remained sour, he let the whole conversation go. “I’ve received word your other two teammates will be arriving in a few days.”

She looked up then, surprised. “Isn’t that a good thing, sir?” she asked, noting the frustration on his face. Either he was disappointed about the end to their Berserker conversation or he really didn’t want Yzak and Dearka to join them.

“Well, to be honest, I’ve been trying to keep them at Gibraltar. We’re strictly a BuCUE and land-based suits kind of team. Not to mention the pilots have had very little training in the desert.”

“Well, you’ve taught me a lot. Why can’t you do that for them?”

Waltfeld seemed to think on the prospect, but started shaking his head before long. “You didn’t have a suit, so a BuCUE was the natural choice. These guys are bringing some high-tech monstrosities with enough fire power to waste this place to ashes; in one shot, mind you.”

“True, but we’ve been fighting the _Archangel_ a lot longer than you have. No offense, sir.”

“I realize that, but your ways haven’t been working. We haven’t tried mine yet so I’d like to give them a shot without Le Creuset’s puppets glancing over my shoulder.” Eclipse blinked at the remark, but didn’t say anything aloud. She knew there were plenty of people who respected Commander Le Creuset, but there were bound to be many who didn’t care for him either. Given his unique social skills, she wasn’t surprised, but wasn’t she on the Le Creuset team as well? She smiled lightly. Apparently, Waltfeld trusted her enough to not think of her as a puppet.

“They _are_ really good pilots, sir, and can only help with your operation.”

He sighed, scratching the back of his head in thought. “Yeah, maybe I’ll just keep them for back-up fire.”

“They’re really going to hate that.”

“Well, tough. It’s about time they learned the world doesn’t revolve around them.”

Eclipse almost laughed, especially at the serious look on his face. She was fairly certain Waltfeld had never met Yzak and Dearka, but perhaps their reputations preceded them. If she hadn’t bonded so well with them in Gibraltar, she may have been happy with their meager deployment, however, at the moment, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her comrades. Maybe she would have to teach them a thing or two as soon as they arrived.

“Now, as for your training,” Waltfeld began again. “I think you deserve a break.”

“A break?”

“Yes, but there’ll be some rules. Either Aisha, DaCosta, or I have to be with you at all times.”

“And why is that?” He just stared back, offering no words, but none were needed since his face said everything for him. Maybe he didn’t trust her after all. Pursing her lips, the redhead clenched her mug and stood up, slamming it hard on the table in the same motion. “You have got to be kidding me!”

“I’m sorry, but you need to see things from my position. You almost killed Breck today.”

“Because you provoked me!”

“And that’s enough to make you shoot your training partner?”

“You don’t know—”

“You’re right and neither do you,” Waltfeld countered. “We know _nothing_ about this and unlike other commanders, I _do_ give a damn. You are to be accompanied at all times and that’s that.”

A part of her wanted to scream and rant—throw a tantrum like she was four years old again. She needed to train, needed to make sure she was ready when they faced off against the _Archangel_. She needed to track down SIN-ED before they did something again and with them having unrest in their organization, they were even more unstable. And what about Namarra? She couldn’t be benched—not now. Her scowl said as much, but the slight narrowing of his eyes proved there was no case she could make for herself.

She was getting shackles after all.

Sitting back down, she spat out a “Yes, sir,” and he sighed.

* * *

Eclipse gulped down the pain as Aisha applied some more aloe vera to the upper part of her back, silently cursing Waltfeld for ordering the two women to grab some fruit in the city. “I told you to wear sunscreen.”

“No, you didn’t,” the redhead countered, biting her lip when the pilot pushed down harder. “You just happened to bring it up off-handedly when we were walking back. By that time, I had already de-evolved to a lobster.”

“I’m sorry, I forgot you aren’t used to all this sun. You blend in so well, I was sure you’d been here for at least six months.”

“Try six days—ow—actually not even that—damnit!” 

“Hold still. You’re a pansy, y’know that?”

“Just because you enjoy pushing _extremely_ hard doesn’t make me a wimp. You’re just vindictive.”

“Hey now, that’s not something I want to hear said about the love of my life,” Waltfeld commented, walking into the room. “I came to let you know that you’re two teammates have arrived.”

“Huh, really?” Eclipse asked. It was the best news she had heard in days. Ever since her talk with Waltfeld three days ago, she had been sent out on errands galore; coffee, fruit, vegetables, toiletries, and even bug spray once. She was barred access to the training facilities and the only time she was allowed to touch a BuCUE was if some mechanics needed an extra hand. Honestly, it had been downright dull. Waltfeld, DaCosta, and especially Aisha seemed to take a liking to her, but that affection had a tendency to be hazardous to her health. 

Hence the sunburn. 

“Wow, you look excited; care to lend me some? I really don’t want them here.”

“Now, Andy, there’s no need to be rude,” the female pilot scolded, setting down the aloe vera and grabbing a brush on the desk. The redhead had stopped struggling a while ago. Aisha enjoyed pampering people and since brushing her hair was the tamest thing she could do, there was no point in arguing. Eclipse wondered if Waltfeld had picked up on her antics. Obviously, her maternal gene was kicking in, but the question was, what did Waltfeld think about the whole thing? Was that the reason he had an engagement ring hiding in DaCosta’s sock drawer?

“Yes, yes, I’ll give them a grand introduction and then make Eclipse give them the tour. How’s that sound?”

The redhead shrugged. As long as she didn’t have to go back outside—or get more coffee—she would be fine, and seeing how Dearka and Yzak had been fairing didn’t seem like a boring time. 

“Good, then put on your uniform and let’s get this over with.”

Out of habit, Eclipse saluted and was about to run out of the room until Aisha—with a firm grip on her shoulder—clipped her bangs to the side with a bobby pin. “There, now go.” The redhead was out the door within seconds.

“You seem to have taken a liking to her,” Waltfeld mused.

“Well, she’s one of the few here who can handle your wit and then give it back 10-fold. I admire people like that. Besides, you like her too.”

“She’s interesting, I’ll give ya that. Can be a little too quiet at times for my taste, but she’s definitely reliable. Hey, that reminds me, whatever happened to Rika? I thought she was supposed to be your little puppet for a while.”

“Ever since you sent her on that recon mission she’s been under _your_ control, or have you forgotten?”

“Oh yeah… So, I take one of yours and you take one of mine?”

“Sounds about right.”

Waltfeld sighed and scratched the back of his head, a light smile dancing on his lips. He could never be mad at her. “Anyway, are you going to join us?”

“Nah.”

“Aw, c’mon. Who am I without my precious co-pilot?”

“The commander of the _Lesseps_ , now get going. DaCosta and Eclipse will keep you out of trouble and I have other—don’t you dare make that face at me, Andrew Waltfeld,” she threatened, pointing a finger at his puppy-dog eyes and quivering lip. “The last time I fell for that was when we went on our first official date and I’ve regretted it ever since.”

“Ouch, that stings.”

“Good.”

They both smiled then, the commander walking over and pecking a few kisses on her cheeks and nose before leaving the room.

* * *

“What are we doing in this awful place?” Dearka moaned, shielding his eyes from the blowing sand. Yzak stood behind him doing the same thing with nothing more than a scowl on his face. He didn’t like being there as much as the Buster pilot, and the blasted wind was making things worse. Good thing their uniforms were breathable otherwise they’d be complaining about that as well.

“They say you can’t really appreciate the desert until you’ve lived here,” the commander said, coming up to the stranded redcoats with DaCosta and Eclipse at his back. “I’m Andy Waltfeld, the commanding officer here.”

“Yzak Joule, of the Le Creuset Team,” the Duel pilot said, saluting.

“Dearka Elsman, also of the Le Creuset Team.” He saluted as well, blinking absently when he saw Eclipse in the background. She nodded to him and he nodded a greeting back.

“It must’ve been tough getting down here. We appreciate you coming,” Waltfeld said as they all saluted once more.

 _Yeah right,_ Eclipse thought, but kept her face blank.

“Thank you, sir,” Yzak said.

Waltfeld smiled—a little too devilishly—as his eyes rested on the pilot’s nasty cut. “When one doesn’t have a bad scar removed, some might think it’s a symbol of your… commitment.” Yzak just looked down, but the commander pressed. “Or, since you turned your head away, maybe it’s a symbol of… your humiliation?”

Eclipse shifted uneasily, eyeing Dearka. She hoped he wasn’t going to jump Waltfeld in his friend’s defense and especially since this was a typical Desert Tiger greeting. Tear them down then build them back up slowly. 

“Why don’t you just tell us where the ‘Legged Ship’ is,” Yzak muttered.

Sighing, the commander walked a little closer to the Duel in order to size the thing up. “Currently, it’s at the resistance base approximately 180 kilometers southeast from here. We sent out a reconnaissance drone; you wanna see the pictures?” Neither of them replied, causing another smirk to cross his lips. Turning back to the mobile suits, he did another evaluation. _Yup, I see they’re the same type of machines as the Strike._

“And speaking of the Alliance’s mobile suit,” Dearka chimed in. “Commander, what information can you give us about your engagement with it?”

“Yeah, well,” Waltfeld began, a short, wry chuckle escaping. “We did as well as the Le Creuset team.”

 _And that obviously didn’t go well,_ Eclipse thought, absently watching the whole scene. She hoped her belief in the two redcoats wasn’t misplaced and noticing the look in the commander’s eyes, he was counting on them as well, even if it was only slightly. They needed as much help as they could get and no matter how much—or how little—training Dearka and Yzak had had in Earth’s gravity, it was appreciated. 

“Oh, Eclipse,” DaCosta said, turning to the redhead as soon as the other three began walking towards the base interior. “This arrived earlier today.” He handed her a letter and left so she could enjoy the contents in private. Silently thanking him for being so courteous, she pulled out the slip of paper and read:

_I knew you’d be somewhere around here and, hopefully, this got to you without a huge fuss. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s complications—that is if I don’t cause them myself, of course. Anyway, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other rather soon so I thought I’d drop you a line and make sure you haven’t forgotten about little ‘ole me. Be sure you’re keeping a sharp eye on SIN-ED because with the chain cut, the guard dog’s on the loose and there’s a lot of bones around to be gnawing on._

_Your fellow genetic mutant,_

_Bob_

“So, Namarra, when things get slow with SIN-ED you decide to bug me, is that it?” the redhead joked and put the letter back into the envelope before chasing after the others. It was going to be an interesting couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I wasn't kidding when I said this was one of my favorite arcs... Really churning through these chapters. 
> 
> This is one of my favorite chapters, actually, and I revamped it a bit. The original version had a lot of description that had made sense in my head, but I needed it to make sense on paper too. So, a bit of a rewrite was warranted. Let me know what you guys think of my version of Waltfeld. He needed to be that personality type between extremely competent and yet rather... chummy? Not sure if that's the right word, but Eclipse was in need of a role model and Andrew Waltfeld seemed to want to fill that gap nicely. Seeing as I follow canon, I'm sure we can all expect what the next couple of chapters will involve, so I really wanted to expand on this part of the story. 
> 
> Also, Eclipse and Cagalli... connections will be explained later on, so try not to fret over that just yet. Yes, I know what the common response is to when an OC is deemed a "relative" of one of the main canon cast, but just bear with me a little bit longer. It's complicated. 
> 
> Also, at this point in SEED, Waltfeld had outright named Kira a Berserker and—as some of you might have guessed—that was the beginning of the idea for this story. Later on in SEED, Waltfeld's claim to what a Berserker is here in Banadiya is actually scientifically backed up to be what Erika Simmons calls "SEEDs." Now, I want the story to speak for itself and I won't get into much here, but Berserkers and SEEDs are different. That's all I'll say for now.
> 
> Hmmm... What else... More information on Namarra will be coming up soon too, for anyone who might find her interesting so far. I'd like to think you'll find her... circumstances interesting as it'll expand on another area of SEED that was severely lacking. 
> 
> As for the end of this chapter, I admit it had taken me by surprise when I first wrote this story. I hadn't really realized at the time, but Athrun and Nicol remain in space quite a while... When I thought back on SEED, I really only remember the Le Creuset team as one unit and I often forget the fact that they are often split up for much of the first half—and then second half—of SEED. Well, two of them are joining Eclipse in the desert, much to their grief. 
> 
> Thanks again for taking a moment out of your busy lives to have a read. The chapters will be sitting pretty around 8–10k from here on out, so I'll apologize now if that's not your cup of tea. I... write fairly long chapters... Sorry...
> 
> Strata


	28. He Should've Asked Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of everything: a new alliance, some broken promises, and one heart-wrenching battle against the Archangel.

** He Should’ve Asked Before **

It was a Sin meeting in Stray’s medical room. FS took the seat at the end of the bed, feet up on the railing and one hand propping his head. Stray took over most of the bed—seeing as he was the one injured—but the other four Sins were scattered around. The two Lust girls, Melanie and Phoebe, were lying near the chef’s feet, their heads resting on the shoulder of the other and legs dangling over the side of the bed. Wrath plopped next to Stray, head on his pillow with one foot on Phoebe’s belly and another dangling off the bed. Lying on the floor under FS’s feet, Sloth looked the most comfortable. Hands curled behind his short, blonde locks, he stared up at the ceiling, yawning from time to time and if he ever closed his eyes, FS would just drop a foot into his gut. For any other individual, it may’ve just caused a small jump, but since Sloth had about a four-inch stomach lying down, FS’s foot would bruise an organ with nothing more than a tap. 

Well, it woke him up anyway.

“Alright, Pride, what’s the plan now?” Melanie asked as she was picking at her tan finger cuticles. Out of all the remaining Sins, she was the darkest. Her hair was a dark brown and only a shade darker than her skin with fair green eyes and a delicate figure. 

“Yeah, we need some action. What’s the fun of breaking out of a military facility if we can’t shoot people?” Melanie’s twin Phoebe asked. The two Lust girls were polar opposites, the only twin-like features being their matching voices, facial shape, and body figure. Where Melanie was dark-skinned, Phoebe was pale, right down to her bleached-blonde hair. They were two of the Naturals from De’Amelith and despite their looks, it was wise to not underestimate them.

“I’m thinking we can up it a notch now,” FS began. “Our little experiment on Aprilius told me something; not only are humans the most cowardly race this side of Hell, but they don’t want this damn war. Sad thing is, they won’t do anything about it.”

“So…” Wrath egged on, snatching Stray’s cherry before the chef could eat it. Stray stared at his empty fingers, a small tear forming at the corner of his eye when he realized what had happened. Turning, he produced his award-winning puppy-dog eyes to Wrath, adding in the lip quiver as if saying, “But I’m the one who hasn’t eaten in days.” Wrath noticed the look, smiled and just patted his leg.

Courtesy was officially dead.

“So,” FS continued, “I’m thinking of doing much the same thing, just at a larger scale. You see, Roan made a deal with ZAFT. In exchange for some information, our fair faced idiot promised to help procure some parts for a weapon.”

“Heh, oh yeah,” Wrath muttered, finally remembering he had a part in that little bargain. Reaching a slender finger over, he tried to steal another cherry, but this time Stray was ready for it. The chef slapped the hand and pulled the bowl to the other side of the bed, away from the rogue. Now it was Wrath’s turn to pout. Offering a soft whimper, he batted amber eyes along with a light flick of his auburn hair. Stray just shook his head and when Wrath reached over to wipe a silver lock from his eyes, the chef just elbowed him in the gut.

“Would you two just settle down?” Phoebe complained, angry because the Sins’ antics slid Wrath’s foot dangerously close to her face.

“Anyway, Pride, about this weapon,” Sloth yawned.

FS had to nudge him before beginning. “Yes, well, at the time it seemed like a foolish move, but now that I’ve thought on it more, it might work to our advantage.”

“How so?” Phoebe asked.

“If we help ZAFT with this weapon, it’ll obviously be used on the Earth Forces, and if we make it powerful enough, we may only have to sit back and watch the fireworks. As soon as most of the Alliance is vaporized, we can gain control of it and use it to attack the PLANTs.”

“Aw, but that means we’ll still be sitting around for the next few months,” Wrath complained. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“Well,” FS explained, “we’ll still be helping the Earth Forces as much as possible. ZAFT still has to be convinced they need this new weapon and losing a few critical battles may be the push we need.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Melanie began, slapping the side of Stray’s leg when he accidentally kicked her shoulder. Damn those two needed to be serious sometimes. “We’re just going to sit back and let the sides destroy each other. As soon as all that’s done, we’ll pick off the remaining soldiers, enact our personal revenges, then hope we scared the public enough to never want to start a war again.”

“Something like that,” FS said.

“Sounds too easy,” Phoebe commented. “And why do we even give a damn about whether or not humanity goes to war again?”

“Maybe a small part of me doesn’t want anyone else to go through what we did,” FS said.

“Besides, we get to kill people and still have it look like some noble act for mankind,” Wrath laughed, kicking Phoebe a little too hard after the jest. No one said anything for a while, finding his or her own amusement in both what Wrath had said and how the Lust girl reacted to being trampled upon. If Stray wasn’t attached to the bed with so many wires, he may have found it hilarious. Alas, he screamed when his cherries went flying and barked some complaints when Phoebe’s punch missed Wrath’s fair face and hit him square on the shoulder.

“Well, as soon as you all settle down, we’ll start working on finding those parts for the weapon. Just come and get me later,” FS said, sighing as he got to his feet and narrowly evading the sleeping Sloth on the floor. Apparently, he didn’t mind the chaos. Melanie had jumped to the defense of her sister and if FS didn’t care so much about the welfare of a particular silver-haired comrade, he may have left the room entirely. Instead he untangled Stray—dodging some waving appendages in the meantime—and helped him out the door. They may act like children most of the time, but damn, they were still good at the other stuff too.

However, it was still a wonder they got anything done.

* * *

“Damn, you’re burnt pretty bad,” Yzak said, reaching over to poke Eclipse’s torched shoulder. “Don’t you know what sunscreen is?”

“Oh, be quiet and don’t you dare touch me!” Eclipse yelled, stepping away from the Duel pilot and bumping right into Dearka. She stifled a gasp when—in the process of cushioning the collision—his hand pushed a bit too hard on her shoulder blade. 

Curse his good reflexes.

“Yzak’s right, I’ve never seen it this bad,” the blond muttered.

“Just because you’re tan,” she pointed at Dearka, “and because you never get any sun,” turning to her other teammate this time, “you think you’re the judges here. And who honestly cares about this anyway? I’m supposed to be giving you a tour and the most you’ve paid attention to is the steam radiating from my back.”

“It’s not our fault you decided to change into a tank top and proclaim your stupidity to the world,” Yzak muttered, not matching her eyes when she glared at him. 

“It hurt more with the uniform on—ugh, you know what? Forget it. Did you want to see the simulation room or not?” Eclipse asked, crossing her arms across her chest with one impatient foot tapping on the ground. 

“Damn, when did you become our mom?” Dearka mocked.

“More like a nagging wife,” Yzak grumbled.

“Seeing as there is no way I could be one and I have no desire to be other, I suggest you keep your traps shut and let me at least show you where you’ll be staying.” The boys threw up their hands in surrender, wondering when their stoic teammate turned into such a hot head. Somehow, they didn’t think the sunburn was entirely to blame. It may have had something to do with her comfort level, but they weren’t entirely sure. “If you must know,” the redhead began, leading them back down the hallway, “I _was_ proposed to the other day.”

“What?” was the unanimous reaction and their faces were priceless.

Eclipse actually laughed. 

“C’mon, I’ll fill you in when you’re all settled,” she said after her laughter faded.

They did find some interesting things to talk about as they unpacked. Apparently, Nicol had had a piano recital not two days ago, and Eclipse couldn’t help but feeling a bit sorry she missed it. Dearka and Yzak—as expected—didn’t seem bothered and they went on to talk about some other random things that had been happening around Gibralter. Nothing seemed terribly interesting, but, then again, she hadn’t been starved for information or action since coming to Banadiya, so it was probably just a matter of perspective.

She talked about the current situation in Banadiya, a bit about her BuCUE training—conveniently, leaving out any bits of her other half and her run-in with SIN-ED—and answered any questions they might have had about units, formations, and the like.

“What’s Commander Waltfeld like?” Dearka asked, having finished putting everything away and sat down on his bed.

She took a moment to think about it, resting her chin on her forearms as she sat backwards in the chair. “The easiest answer is, he’s someone you shouldn’t underestimate, but the longer answer is a bit more complicated. He is surprisingly approachable and likes to keep people off guard, I think, but to what end is beyond me.” She paused, thinking further. “He’s not very conventional, we’ll just leave it like that.”

“So, exact opposite of the commander?” Dearka asked and Eclipse shrugged.

“Pretty much.”

“How’s the BuCUE?” Yzak asked then leaning back near the window and stealing a look outside.

Eclipse smirked. “Love it.”

“Well, that’s a bit of a surprise,” Yzak muttered. “We heard some interesting news at Gibralter, so I wouldn’t get too comfortable with it. You’re, apparently, getting a mobile suit. It should be done soon if not already. I wonder when they’re going to send it.”

“You make it sound as if she’s going to open the mailbox one day and go, ‘Oh, it’s here!’” Dearka grumbled.

“Shut up, Dearka. I was just figuring they’d send it to Gibraltar or Carpentaria since we’re still stuck on Earth until further notice.”

“Honestly,” the redhead cut in, hoping to stop the potential feud. She realized then, she didn’t miss being the middleman for the past few days. If anything, DaCosta had filled that spot nicely. “I don’t know anything about it. The commander’s conveniently been keeping the information far from me. I think he’s afraid I’ll boycott the BuCUE and wait for it.”

“It’s sounding like they used the data from our machines in order to build yours and, judging by our past performances, more units like those on the field seems like a logical move. But how could they finish it so fast? We haven’t had those suits for very long and now they’re making a brand new one?” Yzak shrugged after the comment, but Eclipse wasn’t too eager to let the conversation drop.

“So, you think I’m getting some kind of mechanical reject?”

“Not necessarily,” Dearka said. “I’m sure there were enough mechanics working on the thing to make it a pretty decent replica.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter how powerful a mobile suit is, if the pilot’s a half-wit,” the Duel pilot remarked.

“I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. Tell me, how should I respond?”

Yzak frowned, turning away from the window to match her unamused expression. “Don’t sound so bored and you’re the best choice for that new model. There, ego sated?” Yzak spat and she rolled her eyes.

“I’ll take it, but only because I know that was so hard for you to admit.”

A knock sounded on the door a second later, inviting the fair hand and figure of Aisha. “Settling in?” She leaned against the doorframe and smiled at Eclipse who returned the look.

“No problems yet,” the redhead responded, noting that the guys had paused, swallowed, and only then did they remember to salute. The two women covered laughs.

"Trust me, we’re not that formal here,” she said lightly. “But I appreciate it when at least _some_ people stick to protocol.” Pushing off the doorframe, she walked a bit further into the room and grabbed Eclipse’s wrist, playfully pulling her up off the chair. “I’m here to tell you we’re changing charges.” She pointed at Dearka and Yzak. “Andy wants to see the two of you in the hangar, and, Eclipse, you’re under my watchful eye for the rest of the day.”

Her smile faltered for a second and Aisha gave a short shake of her head. “No arguments. You know what Andy said.”

Whether the guys caught onto the brief exchange Eclipse wasn’t sure, but they did another salute after the command and the smile returned to Aisha’s lips. “Old habits, I guess.” She saluted as well and pulled Eclipse out after her.

“Hanging out with me isn’t _that_ bad,” she began when they were a few steps down the hall. “Though, if those two were on my team, I guess I wouldn’t mind hanging out with them for the whole day either.” She winked and Eclipse was laughing too hard to blush.

“I’m going to tell the commander you said that.”

“And I’ll tell him you were in their room with the door closed.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Hm, you think so?” There was a menacing spark in her eye that finally made Eclipse blush and Aisha laughed, pulling the redhead after her around a corner and down another hall.

* * *

Another letter signed “Bob” had started the whole thing. Eclipse talked DaCosta into letting her come out with him and some other soldiers when they went into town. She wasn’t breaking her orders with Waltfeld and she could meet Namarra at the same time.

It was hard, she had to admit, but Eclipse did eventually ditch her babysitters and traversed through the busy market, wearing a cotton white shirt and khaki trousers to try and blend in. They were to meet near the recently destroyed café’s new location. Surprisingly, the owner had survived the blast and, since most of his equipment had a back-up stored in a building far away from the explosion, he was able to start up another local brewery to keep his livelihood. It was a small establishment—the redhead realized when she finally arrived—but complete with all the necessities; coffee included.

Namarra wasn’t hard to spot, adorning similar clothing to herself, and knowing she was expected, Eclipse just walked over and sat down. The assassin probably deserved more reservation than Eclipse had given in that moment, but she figured even Namarra wasn’t daring enough to try something in public. She had her semi-automatic hidden in the waistband at the small of her back anyway, just in case.

The black-haired girl toasted her and took a swig of coffee, setting the mug down softly on the saucer. “You got my message then.”

“Apparently, you know who to contact. How did you know where to find me?”

Namarra only winked in response and Eclipse found herself smiling. She ordered some water and coffee, the two of them waiting for the drinks to be delivered. Eclipse took the moment to look at the crowded street. Based on her previous experience, she found herself tense and memorized the alleyways as well as any faces around the table. While she was certain the previous attack had been because the commander had been recognized, she couldn’t relax entirely. If anything because of the Berserker sitting across from her.

Her order arrived and the redhead chose to drink her coffee black that afternoon, waiting for it to cool. “You’ve chosen a rather open and public position. Someone might think you’re trying to ambush them.”

Namarra shrugged, her eyes moving back to look at Eclipse’s. She had been scanning the area in much the same way, but she had picked the table on purpose, the redhead could tell. They were on the outer edge of the outside patio, the canopy barely stretching to cover the entirety of their table. Both girls were sitting in the shade, but that meant their backs were mostly to the restaurant. A visual on the busy street was nice, but with only one table between them and some possibly curious townsfolk, Eclipse was quickly realizing they would be having more of a verbal tennis match than anything terribly substantial.

“I mean you no harm, if that’s what you’re worried about. Well, not yet, anyway.”

“That’s a threat, I’m thinking,” Eclipse responded.

“More of a warning.”

The two of them looked at each other, still trying to get a sense of the atmosphere and a better read on the person across from them. Namarra seemed almost cocky as she crossed her right leg over her left and the redhead ended up sighing, leaning back and slouching into a similar position.

"Alright then, since we’re done with the pleasantries, who are you and why are you chasing SIN-ED?”

“Blunt, I like that.” Namarra winked. “But you’d better tone it down around me. You don’t intimidate me as much as you think you do. Though, to be fair, my fight or flight response is a bit skewed.”

“It’s a simple question, nothing more.” Eclipse shrugged and took a drink of her coffee. “You wanted to talk, so let’s talk.”

“Okay, rules of engagement then.” Namarra shifted, leaning forward on the table and pointing across to Eclipse. “I share something, you share something, deal?”

The redhead just shrugged. “So, a conversation. Got it. Deal.”

Namarra, satisfied, took another sip of her coffee. “Seeing as this is the second—well third—time we have run into each other, I’m thinking our orders are similar, just from different parties. Like you, I’ve been ordered to chase after SIN-ED and to dispose as I see fit. However, unlike you, I’m a member of the Earth Forces—or at least an unofficial alliance of.”

Masking her surprise well, Eclipse nodded and held the mug against her lips. SIN-ED was, technically, made up of strays from both ZAFT and the EA so her declaration shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. The “unofficial alliance of” had caused her to pause the longest. FS had said something about the Naturals they had run into being involved with drugs and she looked at Namarra then. Was she the same? “You’re a Natural then?”

She shrugged. “Not sure I could be in the EA otherwise.”

“So, what’s so ‘unofficial’ about you then?”

“Well, how should I put it.” She trailed off as her attention shifted to the crowd in the street. Her chin rested on her right hand, fingers tapping against her cheek. “Ah, how’s this.” Snapping her fingers, she looked back at Eclipse. “If it wasn’t for some people who are acutely acquainted with people I know, this café would still be in its original spot of land.”

That made the redhead’s eyebrows rise. _Blue Cosmos, huh?_ She didn’t say the phrase out loud, but Namarra probably knew she had made the connection and returned her attention to the street, her fingers tapping a melody against her cheek once more. She definitely held a scary level of arrogance if she was openly admitting such a thing and sitting in the very establishment her connections had previously destroyed.

And talking to one of the soldiers who had helped to thwart their attempt at assassinating Waltfeld.

“So, you and I have the same orders. Does your contribution have something to do with some rather… interesting Naturals among SIN-ED’s ranks?”

It was Eclipse’s turn to surprise Namarra and she smirked when the Natural cocked an eyebrow. “Both sides have secrets to bury. I’m not really surprised, are you?” The redhead shook her head and turned her attention to the street as well.

“So, you on drugs too?” she asked.

“Enough to help,” was the reply and Eclipse hid a smirk.

Each side of the war got their hands a little too dirty and two byproducts were in charge of keeping the secret.

“Are you proposing an alliance?” Eclipse asked.

“Maybe eventually, but right now you need to uphold your end of the engagement. How do you know Gluttony?”

“To start off, I know him as Stray, not by his Sin name,” Eclipse began, setting down her mug and crossing her arms over her chest. She sighed at the thought and looked back at the Natural. “Him and another SIN-ED member that I know as FS participated in the same training program as me along with most—maybe all—the other Coordinators in that organization.” She paused, and Namarra turned to look at her growing serious when she had most likely seen the dangerous look on Eclipse’s face. “I don’t plan on getting in your way, but from where I stand, killing Stray and FS are _not_ allowed and I _will_ make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“That’s a ballsy request,” Namarra muttered and broke the stare as she picked up the plastic spoon to chew on it. “Is this FS high up in the organization?” Eclipse shrugged and nodded. “What’s his Sin name?”

Eclipse shook her head. “I don’t know for sure, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to Pride.”

Namarra nodded slowly, the spoon bending as her head did. Based on her reaction, she didn’t know for sure either. “Why only those two in the organization?” Eclipse didn’t respond and Namarra sighed at the look on her face. “Look, this is a big ask and you _know_ that. Sometimes shootouts get so intense you could get hit by a comrade and not even know it.”

“Then I’ll just have to make sure I’m always there when you are.”

She leaned back and they shared another tense look. “Loyalty to sociopaths is dangerous,” Namarra said quietly. “You’d better know what you’re doing.” Their next look explained more than words. Eclipse wasn’t backing down and was going to follow through, probably consequences be damned. Namarra ended up sighing. “Fine, I’ll play your dangerous game, if you play mine.”

Eclipse’s expression faltered and Namarra smirked. “I can sense a big battle on the horizon and I’m curious to see how in control you are.” She leaned back and put her mug to her lips. “In the next fight, you can’t go berserk.”

The redhead put her cup down immediately, and felt the snarl curl up her lips before she registered the full sense of her proposal. “You can’t expect me to hold back when—”

“I do. It’s like a drug, y’know,” the Natural explained, not fazed by her demeanor. “The more you use it—the more you rely on it—the more likely you are to get killed by it.”

Eclipse took a breath to calm down and try to remind herself that Namarra knew more about this than she did. Even though she had never thought about it that way, the Natural was right. She had come to—even if only subconsciously—trust her other half to get her out of the ass-deep holes she was digging. But what if that extra strength was what she needed to defeat the Strike? Could she really hold back? 

Would she take that chance?

“If someone’s life is on the line, I can’t make that promise.”

“Eclipse, if you go berserk, everyone’s life is on the line.”

She took another steadying breath, but still made no such promise. Namarra seemed to realize that and shrugged, holding out her hand.

“Allies?”

She hesitated, but sighed when she saw the Natural shrug again. There was more to this other Berserker, Eclipse knew, but she also needed an ally if she wanted to destroy SIN-ED and still keep Stray and FS alive. Yes, they were both part of a dangerous game, but not even that could stop them from sharing a smirk.

And a handshake.

* * *

“Tell me the enemy’s position,” Waltfeld ordered, walking into the control room and leaning over the soldier keeping an eye on the radar.

“Yes, sir,” the greencoat said and began pushing a series of buttons.

It had been over a day since Yzak and Dearka arrived and still the _Archangel_ hadn’t moved. Everyone was getting restless—especially the two new redcoats because they were cooped up indoors—so the announcement that morning was almost a happy one. Not that impending death was an exciting experience, but the game of survival was always a welcome temptation. An adrenaline rush was only legal high a soldier could undergo.

Eclipse and her two teammates were no different. Trailing the commander, they filed in; Yzak to his left, Dearka to Yzak’s left, and the redhead on Waltfeld’s right. DaCosta came in a moment later to stand next to her.

“They’re moving north by northwest from their last position,” the CIC operator said and brought up a visual.

“It’s the ‘Legged Ship,’” Yzak spat, cursing under his breath at the thought. It was the _Archangel_ all right, surrounded by what looked like military vehicles; jeeps with an assortment of men holding low-tech—but very efficient—weaponry.

They meant business.

“They’re heading for the remains of the Talbadiya factory district.” The commander smiled, straightening his stance and staring at the screen thoughtfully. “Well, I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing. If I was their commander, I would try to blow right through us.”

Eclipse glanced at DaCosta, the two realizing Waltfeld was impressed by the decision. When the redhead thought on it more, it was a scary thought. The commander admired that ship and its crew, and yet his military duty had him trying to destroy them all.

“What do we do, sir?” the greencoat asked, bringing both Eclipse and her commander back to the situation at hand.

“I hoped they’d wait a little bit longer. Can’t change that.”

“Aren’t we attacking?” Yzak asked, not liking his nonchalant approach.

“We are,” Waltfeld said with cold finality. Despite what the Duel pilot was thinking, he was very serious. Turning to the rest of the room he finished his orders. “Listen up; we’re moving out! Code 0-2. Notify the _Petrie_ and the _Henry Carter_ immediately.”

“Aye, aye,” the room sounded, bringing a shiver down Eclipse’s spine.

Finally, it was about to begin.

* * *

“So, what do you think we’ll be ordered to do?” Dearka asked, leaning against the hangar wall. His arms folded over his chest made him look like some delinquent but really, he was just comfortable and besides, Yzak was the one who looked scary. Standing slightly off to the blond’s right, the Duel pilot’s hands twitched at his sides and his tapping foot was becoming more of an annoyance than the private ordered to grab five different water bottles. At five different times. “Yzak, you have to calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down! Dearka, we probably won’t even get a chance to say hello to the Strike or ‘Legged Ship’ let alone try and destroy them. Eclipse is launching in five minutes and we’re still on standby.” 

“Ugh, you’re such a broken record. If I wasn’t your friend, I’d tell you to find a turntable and shove it up your—” the blond began, but was cut off when the locker room door slammed opened two feet to his left. Dearka found himself cringing as the handle hit the steel wall. At the right angle, one could see a small dent in the silver bulb and almost make him feel sorry for the inanimate object. After all, it was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Much like Yzak. 

“Hey, Eclipse—” the pilot started, but, unfortunately, he never had a chance to say anything more. The redhead stopped and glared, surpassing Dearka’s threat with nothing more than a harsh intake of breath and “death by eye contact” stare. “Uh, you okay?”

“Forget it,” she hissed. Yzak, to his credit, stood his ground against the glare. “The commander wants to see you and be sure to make sure _that_ one makes it to his BuCUE.” Pointing back inside the locker room, the pilots followed her finger to the shaking and sweating figure of Breck plastered against the far wall.

“What the hell did you do?” Yzak asked, turning to get the story from Eclipse first, but she was conveniently missing, having already continued her trek to her BuCUE. 

Dearka sighed and was the first to put his hand on Breck’s shoulder when they entered. “What happened?”

“I-I was merely the messenger, damnit,” the greencoat muttered his fear quickly turning into anger. He pointed at the slip of paper on the floor and Yzak made Breck sit as Dearka picked it up.

“Remember partner, you can’t switch. You fail, I get killing privileges. – Bob.”

“And why does that piss her off so much?” Yzak asked, walking over to his comrade and leaning over his shoulder to reread. 

“I don’t know,” Dearka admitted and turned to Breck for more answers, but the only thing he offered was a shrug. Thinking on it more, the blond realized something. There wasn’t only anger in her glare she had just made. It went beyond that.

 _Scared?_ he wondered. _But scared of what?_ He curled up the piece of paper and put it into his pocket, following Yzak’s sudden burst of energy as it pulled him from the room. Apparently, the commander had arrived, and they were getting assigned to their positions. But something just didn’t feel right.

Eclipse was scared?

How bad can something be to terrify her that much?

* * *

So far, the Strike hadn’t done much. Given, it had just launched—and managed to take out one BuCUE—the only thing it was concerned with was the _Lesseps_ unwanted attention towards the _Archangel_. A few bullets weren’t going to sting such a ship, but apparently the pilot thought so.

Eclipse had left with the BuCUE team at the beginning of the battle and since neither Yzak nor Dearka had been given orders at the time, she couldn’t help but wonder where they were going to end up. Waltfeld had hinted at a long-range kind of role—and knowing the commander he would stick to the plan—but she wouldn’t have minded them watching her back at a closer distance. Aisha was suiting up as the redhead was leaving, so no doubt Waltfeld was going to handle things personally, but Eclipse really wished they would just hold down the fort. Namarra’s game had been gnawing at the back of her mind and having them running around in the LaGOWE was unnerving. Breck guarding her right flank was enough of a worry.

 _Pay attention,_ Eclipse thought, sideswiping a few rebel jeeps on the way to an all-out frontal attack on the Strike. If she passed the opportunity up now, the commander might be the next one to try and that was something she wanted to avoid. Blame it on pride—or a cheap sense of righteousness—but even if all she could inflict was minor damage, at least it could cut into his battery life.

The Strike noticed her machine, turned and fired three shots. One fell short—destroying a few dust particles rather than doing anything helpful—and another Eclipse evaded easily to the left. The last one, however, clipped the railgun on top of her unit, searing a big enough hole at its base to cause an array of delicate curses to resonate inside the cockpit. Quickly pressing the button near her left hand, the redhead abandoned the weapon, not even bothering to watch it hit the ground as she continued her charge. 

The Strike dropped his rifle, drawing the beam saber at his belt in a desperate attempt to slow her advance. If he could get in a decent attack before she rammed through him, he might have a chance, but the “ram through him” part was still nagging at him. 

Pulling the blade across his body, he hoped to cut off the machine’s front legs as it jumped, however, Eclipse was a bit better than anticipated. Instead of cutting through the metal as was previously planned, her blade met his with a force that sent his attack out wide and to the right. 

That same force pulled Eclipse into a spin and would’ve left her terribly vulnerable if it wasn’t for the help of some very reliable reflexes and boosters. Finishing her loop, the BuCUE hind-kicked the Strike’s chest and sent him flying to the ground roughly 15 meters away. While the crunching sound of the expensive machinery as it fell helplessly was amusing, there was no time to dwell on how powerful of a headache the Strike pilot was experiencing at the moment. Smirking, Eclipse charged forward and pinned the unit to the ground.

“Who’s the Berserker now?” she spat, feeling the now familiar bubble of anger in her system. She swallowed it back, however, and took pleasure instead in the Strike beneath her machine. The Strike struggled under her hold, the BuCUE having the upper hand in this particular terrain. When he thrashed, she just pushed him deeper into the sand.

“Pathetic.” Eclipse laughed and flared her saber again. Her eyes narrowed, a smirk curling up her lips. It was sadistic—and one only a true Berserker could give—but she had not snapped. Perhaps that was the reason it was so terrifying. “Die, imposter.” Twisting the BuCUE’s head, she stabbed downward, aiming for the exposed cockpit and unfortunate inside. 

The beam scraped against the Phase Shift armor as the redhead’s machine whined in defiance. The head managed to turn 70 degrees rather than the 90 degrees she needed for the instant kill, so the only enjoyment she got out of the attempt was one pretty horrified soldier. _Damned technology._ Apparently, a BuCUE wasn’t made for such an attack. “Shit,” she cursed, not even pleased with the fair-sized gash she still managed make near the cockpit. “Other side then,” she mused in a sing-song voice, imagining and feeling—based on the Strike’s struggling—the pilot’s panic.

He was trapped.

Turning her head the other way, she stabbed again.

Same outcome.

She cursed and began searching for another attack. He was right there.

He was supposed to be dead.

A fighter jet—Skygrasper by name—swooped low just as she was about to pull the saber across and separate the Strike’s upper torse from the lower, but its barrage shorted the saber at her unit’s mouth for a second too long and the remainder of the bullets went into her side, forcing the BuCUE to bail and leave its prey alive.

“Damn you!” Eclipse shouted, evading his second round. She couldn’t risk another fly by, knowing the scarred metal where her railgun used to be was leaving her vulnerable. _Wait,_ she thought, realizing her folly. _I should’ve stayed and exploded on top of the Strike. He would’ve been dead and kicked off of ZAFT’s radar._ She cursed again, her fingers clutching the controls hard. _I would’ve been killed too, but there are worse things._ She should have made that sacrifice, she realized, but, for some reason, it wasn’t the prominent decision on her mind. She had gotten soft—forgotten the bigger picture. Comfortable familiarity was a luxury she couldn’t afford and yet she had spent a fortune.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t regret it.

Most of the other BuCUEs were having a blast with the rebel group—either enjoying the feeling of crunching metal under their feet or the piercing cries of the dying—but it looked as if ZAFT had the upper hand. Given the numbers, it wasn’t a surprise, but hearing Waltfeld speak so highly of the _Archangel_ ’s captain, Eclipse had expected more. Cursing her ability to underestimate, the scream of a comrade pulled her away from the Skygrasper’s assault on the _Petrie_ to the precise carving of a fellow BuCUE. The redhead wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but a teammate’s last moments were never a pleasure to hear.

Preparing for another attack, Eclipse began circling behind the Strike, but fellow soldier beat her to the punch. Screaming, “Damn you!” the BuCUE fired four missiles before taking the Strike’s well-aimed beam saber head on. The Strike had evaded the attack, lunging forward and under the assault, to stab upward through the BuCUE’s chin and into the battery back. The machine exploded, leaving its missiles to their lonely trek straight into the sand behind him.

However, lonely didn’t always mean powerless. 

The explosion caused a frustrating waterfall of sand, hiding the Strike in its billowing folds as soon as Eclipse was about to make a move of her own. At any other time, she might have merely cursed and fled to find a better angle of approach, but she remembered the Strike’s target and even though the BuCUE’s destruction had been inevitable, she still heard his cry echo through her ears.

 _This is ridiculous,_ the redhead thought—debating turning off her radio altogether—and stopped her machine behind a sand dune. _Five BuCUEs were launched and now only two remain. Damn! How the hell could this guy have taken out so many in such a short amount of time?_ The crisp sound of cannon fire alerted her to an enraged Breck taking a shot at the famed mobile suit, reminding her at the same time battles didn’t give soldiers the luxury to think on life’s peculiarities. “Breck, don’t—” she started to yell, but sped to his defense instead. 

After all, what good were words at a time like this?

Remembering Breck’s skills, Eclipse figured he had a pretty good shot of at least damaging the Strike, but destroying him might’ve been another matter. The boy was inventive, but the difference in strength was still evident. “Breck, don’t go right at him. Swing to his right—” the redhead began, but apparently the young greencoat didn’t listen. Doing just as she proposed not to, Breck fired two shots at the Gundam and kept going, looking to ram him much like Eclipse had done earlier. 

However, the Strike pilot had learned by now.

“Breck, stop!”

Evading both shots with ease, the Strike raced forward to meet his enemy and, even though the greencoat thought to use his beam sabers, he misjudged the distance and speed of the Strike by unhealthy measurements.

Eclipse saw it all, knew it was going to happen, but couldn’t have helped him even if she tried. Her railgun was non-existent and no matter how quickly she adjusted the boosters, she would never get there in time. All she could do was watch and listen.

While Breck may have misjudged, the Strike pilot did not. Tapping his thrusters, he jumped, gracefully kicking the head off the BuCUE. The wires hissed in retaliation, but there was nothing they could do to stop the shot to the cockpit a split second later. Breck made no sound, just eased out of existence like a name in the sand, but that may have hurt more than a panicked scream. Either he was too shocked or too scared to react and neither were meant to be present for such a skilled pilot. “Fuck you, Strike!” At any other time, Eclipse may have called the whole sequence awesome or impressive, but at that moment she was merely inspired. 

Inspired to slay this god of a pilot and throw his ass in hell. 

Although the frontal attacked seemed to be the favorite of the day—but by far the least effective—Eclipse tried another route. The Strike seemed to be catching his breath after his most recent kill and she used that to her advantage, coming around toward his right side. Inspired by her previous simulation sessions, the redhead abruptly stopped short when she was close and had the Strike’s attention. Digging the BuCUE’s front legs hard into the sand, she showered the Gundam with enough sand to supposedly blind him to his bloody demise.

After all, revenge was only sweet to the one enacting it and terribly painful to everyone else caught in the crossfire.

However, the plan backfired when three shots grazed the skin of her BuCUE, spoiling Eclipse’s brief encounter with optimism—as well as depleting her ego enough to realize not all her ideas were flawless. Obviously, the Strike pilot had calculated the ploy and played his cards brilliantly, but there was a still trap door open for Eclipse. Since the barrage wasn’t aimed well enough to score a hit, the redhead knew her enemy was still blinded, if only a little. Using that information, she ducked low and turned her head, hoping to slice the Strike from groin to cockpit in one try. 

Then again, hopes were meant to be dashed.

Never leaving his spot, the Strike had instinctively brought around his shield and slammed downward, counteracting Eclipse’s attack and beheading her unit in the matter of seconds. The machine shook, sparks flying near the redhead’s eyes when a stubborn wire refused to snap right away, dragging part of the screen down and narrowly missing her exposed lap. She felt the controls lock up and issued a series of curses even Yzak would be proud of, but nothing would make her BuCUE start moving again. _It couldn’t have been that serious of a blow, but apparently enough to cut off some fluid to the controls,_ Eclipse thought, wiggling the levers just in case. 

The Strike whined outside, metal scraping on metal outweighing even the ugliest scream that could pass over her radio. It could’ve been because—for once—she was the one waiting for death, but given her brushes with the devil, it seemed rather unlikely. The Strike was getting to its feet, that was obvious by the deafening noises outside, but was he going to give the killing blow? He had never hesitated before, so why the hell was he taking a breath now? Did he think she was already dead?

Hah, talk about arrogance.

Her right hand went to the side of her cockpit, releasing the self-destruct panel. She could, she knew. The Strike might get caught up in the blast and everyone else’s nightmare would be over. She took a breath, her fingers hanging steady over the pad. She could. She should.

But she didn’t.

Shifting sand and the familiar sound of a BuCUE railgun—or at least something to that effect—caught the redhead’s attention, turning her amusement with her impending death to confusion about what was happening outside. The blast resonated a bit louder than the typical railgun, but it was obviously being fired from a moving machine. A BuCUE was the only thing quick enough to come to her rescue, but there weren’t any left. 

Wait, the LaGOWE?

“Eclipse, you alright?” Waltfeld called over the radio, sounding a bit breathless and not without a hint of anger. 

Somewhat happy about the rescue—but still frustrated she didn’t take out the Strike before they got onto the field—the redhead was reluctant to answer. What would she say? “Yeah, got my ass kicked; controls malfunctioning if not nonexistent. Apparently, all your military advice got sucked into the black hole scientifically named ‘My Ego’ and never got the chance to grace this battlefield with its intelligence.” Not wanting to sound too overbearing, Eclipse settled for a boring, “I’m alive, sir.”

“Can you move?”

“No. What’s going on out there?”

“The _Henry Carter_ has arrived and is offering the _Archangel_ some pleasantries, but as for our ground crew—since you’re out of commission—Aisha and I are the only ones left to play Grim Reaper.” 

“Sorry I couldn’t do more.”

“You did fine, kid,” Waltfeld responded with a small chuckle.

“We’ll get you in a bit,” Aisha said as well, a light smile in her voice. “Just sit tight.”

The radio went silent as some more shooting could be heard outside Eclipse’s BuCUE. If she wasn’t so afraid of being caught up in the mess, she would personally peek out and have a look. Alas, she was forced to wait. 

Or at least until the commander pulled the Strike further away. 

The redhead could have blamed anything on the reckless exiting of her machine—heat, annoying transmissions, frustration—but the sight she came up to wasn’t appealing in the least. Slipping off her helmet, she took a careful scan of her surroundings, internally laughing at the Duel and his encounter with the rebels. It looked like a cockroach being attacked by ants by the way the jeeps circled Yzak and fired missiles at his unit. One would fire from the front, he’d turn and attempt to make them toe jam, but another rebel would shoot from the back and the Duel would turn in that direction. Having no footing on the sand didn’t help matters and made Yzak look even more ridiculous. 

Dearka had somehow jumped ship as well. Eclipse heard his fair voice shouting a few colorful words across her radio, but couldn’t see his position. Two things could be blamed for that. One, her eyesight was limited with such a hilly environment, and two, the LaGOWE’s fight with the Strike had attracted all her attention. She couldn’t remember how long she had been down in her scrap metal of a machine, but seeing the commander’s unit without a leg was quite unnerving. The redhead knew the Strike pilot was good, but good enough to damage the LaGOWE like that? Thinking back, Eclipse couldn’t remember if she ever saw Waltfeld and Aisha fight together—in either simulations or real battle—but she knew they were exceptional. How the hell could some kid be defeating both an elite soldier like herself and veteran soldiers who have been in more battles than that kid had spent dreading? 

Some leaking transmission calls from the _Lesseps_ turned her back to the inside of the BuCUE and away from the epic battle. Apparently, the _Archangel_ had fired and hit the ZAFT ship, leaving the redhead to wonder what they were going to do next. At the beginning, the skirmish looked like a sure win for the powerful Coordinators, but now they had lost all their land units and the only machine still offering a decent fight was the LaGOWE.

Some god was working overtime for that Earth Alliance ship and it pissed her off.

Orders to retreat sounded through the open transmission, static cutting apart most of the message, but the intent was made. Eclipse merely ignored it. Waltfeld and Aisha had made no movement towards the _Lesseps_ even though the order was practically screaming into every ZAFT ear and flashing on every mobile suit screen within a twenty mile radius. _Are they still going to fight?_ the redhead thought, feeling slight panic tighten her muscles. _But they can’t—_ The realization came too late and much like Breck’s fight, all Eclipse could do was watch in horror as her two greatest allies shifted into her two greatest memories. 

Her folly had proven fatal after all.

“No—please—don’t—” she stuttered, desperately climbing over her scrap-metal of a suit to reach the soft refuge of the sand below, but only managed to snag a pant leg on a jagged corner instead. The piece bit into her leg, attempting to distract her from the mental turmoil, but it failed miserably and only added to the redhead’s pain. “Stop—not like this—”

Strike Phase Shift down; no turning back. 

Pure desperation.

 _I said I had your back,_ Eclipse thought.

The knife was drawn and no one had the desire to back down.

Damned pride. Damned mobile suits.

Damn war.

It was horrid and yet Eclipse couldn’t turn her head—refused to look away. The Strike and LaGOWE charged at each other, both wanting to issue the killing blow, but even as they leapt, the mistake was clear in the redhead’s eyes. Waltfeld had been too greedy in trying to take the Gundam in a frontal attack. Some might say he had no other option and still others would state the Strike merely had the better machine, but no matter what the outcome was the same.

Death.

A perfect stab to the LaGOWE’s battery pack ended the fight—proving the Strike pilot’s ungodly abilities had gone beyond annoying and right into torturous—to the sheer horror and grief of the Waltfeld Team. The world stood still for a moment as the commander’s machine knelt in defeat, exposing the destructive wound and the inevitable results.

“Please,” Eclipse begged, wishing someone or even something would hear her cries, but since she had never bothered to listen to cries for mercy, why should anyone else? Finally dislodging her leg, she made one last desperate attempt to aid her comrades.

However, she was too late.

“Commander! Aisha!” Eclipse screamed, falling out of her downed BuCUE and into the sand. All she could see was black smoke, flames, and hear the faint sound of whining metal. The smell of burning gasoline, and—maybe just because of the circumstances—the faint stench of death hung in the air. She retched; there was nothing else for her body to do. All the pain and panic had finally clawed through its cage, but without the reassuring smile of some fellow comrade, there was no hope to calm her fears.

Nothing was left.

No one could have survived such an explosion. 

Even at a distance, the redhead could still feel the heat, stinging her eyes and burning her cheeks. “Before,” she breathed, struggling to her feet, adrenaline pumping energy into her weary legs. “Before, damnit! Why didn’t I say before?” She cursed again and sprinted towards the burning gravesite, aiming now for the fallen Strike. Tripping once, she merely spit out the sand and kept going. Just like in the simulation, that Strike pilot was going to die, his machine being carved from the outside in. She didn’t give a damn about Namarra’s bet. She had held true through the battle and it had gotten her two greatest allies killed.

Dead.

That pilot was going to suffer horribly.

“Hey there!”

Shouting and terrain jeeps could be heard behind her and coming up fast. It sounded like the rebels had finally given up their chase of the Duel, but although it was a good sign for Yzak, it was a bad one for Eclipse. Still, the Berserker didn’t care. The Strike seemed so close.

“Stop! I said stop!” an older man yelled, pointing a gun at her as the vehicle spun to a stop about five yards away. “The battle’s done; haven’t you been given orders to retreat? Now, get out of here! I have no desire to shoot—Stop, damnit!” he ordered once more, but Eclipse kept moving. She didn’t even have a weapon to retaliate. Her goal was clear and injuries be damned.

Orders be damned.

“Eclipse!” Dearka yelled, struggling towards the group while still in his machine. He had been monitoring his comrade, but never thought she’d do something so reckless. “Eclipse!” he shouted again and only when the rebel fired another shot near and over her shoulder did he try to intervene. Reaching down, he put the Buster’s hand in front of her, both blocking her path and keeping her safe from the trigger-happy enemies. “We were ordered to retreat!” he yelled to the redhead outside.

The Berserker paid him no heed, stepping around the gigantic fingers as if they couldn’t crush her to a pulp. “I’m sending that pilot to Hell!” she screamed in return.

The rebels—having moved a bit further back—aimed. Dearka noticed the movement and put his hand in between once more, this time chancing a risky gamble and wrapping Eclipse up in the process. “Yzak, can you move?” the blond asked into the transmission, cringing when he saw how much the Berserker struggled. He could’ve sworn he saw blood curl away from her fists as she punched the metal. 

“Yeah. I can make it back to the _Lesseps_. Eclipse?”

“Alive and apprehended. Let’s retreat.”

“Understood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. So, this is the chapter... Give me a moment as I just crawl into my futon and cry a little... This battle isn't scene by scene the same as the anime, but I spruced it up a bit for my purposes. Man, writing BuCUE battles was so much fun... I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed putting them together.
> 
> But even before the battle, we get to learn a bit more about Namarra. My original draft had this a bit more of a light-hearted chat, but I changed the tone a little bit. I also changed the chat between Yzak, Dearka, and Eclipse. My "comical" style in writing has changed a bit, so I'm cutting out a lot of the absurdity that used to be in the book. Makes me feel better at least and is closer to how I currently write.
> 
> Hmmm... what else... The next chapter is a bit emotionally supercharged so I might take a break before attempting that one. Besides, I think I'll be crying into my pillow for a little bit longer... 
> 
> Thanks again for stopping in and do let me know if you have any comments or issues.
> 
> See you all in the next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	29. Lucky? Or Unlucky?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the Waltfeld team vs. the Archangel. And introducing... the Stealth.

** Lucky? Or Unlucky? **

“I said hold her down!”

“Grab her arm!”

“Damnit, now the leg!”

“For fuck’s sake—”

“She fuckin’ _bit_ me!”

Dearka and Yzak could only stare into the medical room as five medics attempted to soothe their frantic teammate. Someone had suggested just leaving her in the Buster’s hand until they could sedate her, but—for some reason—no one bothered to take the proposal seriously. The Berserker wasn’t severely hurt, but the large amount of blood littering the Gundam’s fingers when Dearka brought her in was enough to cause a panic where the medics were concerned. 

“How the hell can the anesthesia _not_ be working? Just give her some more!”

“We could seriously hurt her if we did that!”

Eclipse’s hands were bleeding badly, but the biggest damage was the chunk of skin missing on the knuckle of her left pinky. Exposing tendons—and even the slick white color of bone—the gash extended down to the tip of her finger, leaving a rotten taste in Yzak’s mouth when he saw it. Her leg was much the same, that sharp edge on her BuCUE digging a cut on the side of her right knee down to about mid-calf. The wound wouldn’t have been so bad if the Berserker hadn’t yanked herself out of the wreckage and, thus, tearing the puncture hole downward and, to make matters worse, there was sand in it. Whether or not it was deep enough to have nicked the bone was still under debate.

They had to get her strapped to the bed first.

“Damnit, Dearka, you said she was okay!” Yzak shouted, pointing an angry finger into the room. “Does she look _fine_ to you?”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t hurt, just alive,” Dearka corrected, actually glad for the distraction. While the Duel pilot’s anger may have been an emotional hazard, at least it was better than worrying about Eclipse. “I didn’t know she was _that_ injured when I brought her in. She’s lucky to be alive.”

“I think ‘lucky’ depends on perspective,” Yzak mumbled, his anger subsiding when he heard Eclipse cry out in the other room. A doctor and four, male nurses had finally pinned down her lower torso, tying off leather straps near her ankles, one across her shins, and another one on her upper thighs. Some others were still struggling with her arms, but it looked like her strength was waning. Perhaps she would be apprehended after all.

“Quick, stop her!”

Or not.

The redcoats ran to the door after the outburst, wishing they could go inside and help instead of merely peering through the window. Either way, it was a terrifying sight. While still strapped from the waist down, Eclipse had somehow gotten a hold of a scalpel and was currently attempting to stab an older doctor near his upper chest cavity. Her right arm held firmly onto his shoulder as her left hand punctured three areas on his body. The first one was a direct hit to the muscle just above the doctor’s collarbone, splattering the redhead with a bit of blood as she pulled it out and readied for another strike. The second stab grazed the right side of his neck, this time cutting off a fair-sized chuck of skin as well. Even though the flesh landed with a sickening sound on the floor Eclipse still reared back for another blow. If it wasn’t for a heroic nurse, the doctor would’ve been dead—seeing as the next strike was aiming for his head. The younger man grabbed the redhead’s wrist, but not anticipating her to have such strength, the nurse only managed to veer the stab down and away. It clipped the doctor’s bicep, cutting through the first two layers of skin and leaving a nice, red gash as a souvenir. 

Finally, she was caught and strapped to the bed, but only after two more shots of anesthesia did her body stop flailing. Dearka and Yzak watched in horror as the nurses brought in new machines and began hooking the Berserker up to the various monitors. It was hard to believe that not three hours ago Eclipse was standing in front of them and boarding her BuCUE. Now she was strapped to a bed with the gut-wrenching mixture of blood and tears drying on pallid cheeks. 

“Y-Yzak?”

“She’ll be fine,” the Duel pilot assured, swallowing down the last bit of his own fear. Only when another nurse came around to shoo them away did the panic arise once more. 

The closing blinds in the medical room didn’t help either.

* * *

“Sir, as a doctor I can’t let you take this soldier.” The man, Cale Drudger, was younger—about late 20s—and even though he may have aced his clinical exam, he had no idea who he was talking to. Surprising, because the man had an obvious, recognizable trait—mainly the mask on his face—but Commander Le Creuset decided to let it slide for now. However, who they were talking _about_ was another matter. Lunar Eclipse had been the talk of the base for the past day and a half since her stabbing of the veteran physician aboard the _Lesseps_. “Talk of the base” may not be as good as the phrase “psychopath of the month,” but it kept a lid on the panic to some degree. Although, as soon as Le Creuset arrived, the jabbering stopped immediately. They weren’t about to make him angry over some hotheaded girl.

Unlike this doctor here.

“And why can’t I take my pilot?” the commander asked, placing a hand on the end of Eclipse’s bed. While still alive, the redhead had been unconscious ever since her chaotic rescue. Some blame her hysteria, some blame her guilt, and still others think the doctors went overboard on the anesthesia. If any of the formal theories were the case, she should feel lucky to be alive, but if the guilt of Waltfeld and Aisha’s untimely death was behind it all, Eclipse would most likely be comatose for a while yet.

“Well, we did some additional tests as soon as she calmed down and came up with some pretty interesting information. To put it frankly, this girl should either be in a mental hospital or a research facility, not a mobile suit,” the doctor explained as he flipped a few pages over the end of his clipboard. Either they did find a fair amount of info, or he just did that out of nervousness. Then again, addressing Commander Le Creuset as he had been was bold in and of itself. Somehow the jitters didn’t seem part of the equation.

“And why would you say such thing? Tell me, are you a psychologist now too?”

“Just a simple measurement of her brainwaves showed us something peculiar. As you may have already heard, the anesthesia didn’t work right away, so we ended up giving her as much as necessary. She went quiet after that, providing us with enough time to finish the tests.”

“Is there a reason for the restraints?”

“Yes sir,” the doctor began, absently rubbing the back of his head with the memory. “She was very violent when another member of your team brought her to us. So violent, in fact, there are three stab wounds in my superior as we speak. Given, none were serious, but the act alone has caused a lot of uneasiness, which I’m sure you picked up on. Your soldier here is lucky we had a secluded room and a forgiving staff or she’d be dead by now.”

“I’m sorry for your inconvenience, but I’ll have to ask you to remove the restraints,” Le Creuset said, noting the small scowl cross the young man’s fair face. It probably had something to do with how lightheartedly the commander took to hearing about the hospital’s chief medic. That guy would be fine. Eclipse was still in the grey area. “So, when do you expect her to wake up?”

“To be honest, there isn’t a clear answer for that. She wasn’t as badly injured as some of the others, but her problems seem to be more psychological than anything. The test results alone proved this theory. When we managed to calm her down and start treatment, she was still awake—at least as awake as a trauma victim can be. We figured something might be wrong mentally when her hysteria sent her into a fit of hallucinations and the anesthesia had worn off, or even just failed. Her brainwaves were… nonexistent. I couldn’t believe it myself,” the doctor admitted, swinging his weight to one leg as he lowered his clipboard. A hand on his hip finished the stance, proving he was confident in talking about the situation. Either that or he was proud of his discovery. “There she was, awake, and—for the most part—comprehensible, but somehow her brain wasn’t doing anything. We tried another machine to the same result, so we can’t blame technology.”

“Brain-dead, then, while she was still awake?”

“Yes, but we have no idea why. As soon as she went unconscious, her brainwaves started up again, however, the neurons weren’t firing enough to keep us optimistic about her condition. She seems to be stuck in the fourth stage of sleep, Delta Sleep, and the only thing we can do is wait. Her brain’s very… unstable and we don’t want to rush her into anything that might permanently damage her.”

 _Huh, I’m not sure you_ can _permanently damage her,_ Le Creuset mused, admiring the doctor’s evaluation rather than being worried by it. The resilience to anesthesia particularly caught his interest. Someone had to have some stubborn genes to pull that one off. “I guess you’re right in saying we have to wait. I don’t like to, but there’s really no other choice, is there? If need be, could she be transferred to Gibraltar unharmed?”

Pausing, the doctor took the time to digest the question. “Sure, it _is_ possible, but if something went wrong in the transfer, that’d be it. I’d hate to see such a good soldier die because of an over-zealous commander.”

Now that was bold.

“I’d watch that tongue of yours, doctor,” Le Creuset stated, his tone cheery instead of sounding deep and threatening. Perhaps that was why the young man took a step back. Apparently, his survival instincts were working after all. “You may know something about brainwaves, but never—even involuntarily—think you know anything about how I treat my team. I know the weaknesses and strengths in every one of them, mind you, so you can just worry about how to get Eclipse back on duty.”

“Yes sir,” Dr. Drudger muttered, regretting his ridiculous comment as soon as the commander offered his cold glare as a present. Next time, he’ll just say “no” to taking care of a member of the Le Creuset Team.

And then get the hell out of the hospital.

* * *

“I’m assuming there’s been no change,” DaCosta muttered, a clipboard of papers under his right arm and more papers in his right hand. He must have stopped in before he had to run off again. Knowing that he was now the one in charge to deal with the clean-up, his schedule was bound to be busy. “Does Commander Le Creuset still plan on transferring her to Gibraltar tomorrow? I realize she’s been out for over two days now, so is that a good thing to do?”

Dearka sighed, putting down his crossword puzzle and walking to the bed in one fluid motion. Given the room’s seclusion, it was expected to be of fair size, but it looked more like a holding cell than a recovery room. The white walls and tiled floor were anticipated, but whenever he came to visit, he felt the eerie silence broken only by the sound of the medical machines. Wiping some sweat from his forehead, the blonde checked the monitor before shrugging. “We’re not sure what he’s up to and, honestly, him coming here was a huge surprise. We both figured he was still in space and then the day after all of this began,” he swept an arm over Eclipse’s body, “there he was on the doorstep. The doctors say she’s stable enough for transfer, but they never make eye contact or seem to stand still when they talk about it.”

“We’re pretty sure they’re lying,” Yzak chimed in, setting his book down on the small lamp stand near his seat. They were both visiting then, it seemed. With the team in disarray and the base still a chaotic mess them keeping out of the way was a welcome more than anything. “We just can’t prove it because we know shit about medical stuff and we think they’re using the medical jargon on purpose.”

DaCosta sighed, walking forward to put his clipboards and papers down on one of the smaller tables before leaning back against the wall near the other two pilots. “So, she _is_ more serious than I thought.” He ran his hands over his face, feeling Dearka’s and Yzak’s gazes as he did. “Damn, this has been a hellish couple of days.”

The two redcoats could only agree. Surprisingly, Waltfeld had been found alive; barely, but still ticking. Eclipse would have been relieved if she ever woke up, but that was a problem too; she was still sleeping nicely in a coma. Why, no one knew, and each passing day caused more panic, at least among her closest comrades. Her wounds were weren’t serious, bandaged, and were healing, and there was no indication she received brain damage in the battle. 

It was just so frustrating.

“Commander Waltfeld woke up this morning. The doctor called me in to see him, but what could I say? He asked me some questions, joked a bit, tried to make me get him a mug of coffee, but other than that, he avoided the Aisha subject. I’m sure he knows though.” DaCosta sighed, combing a hand through his hair as he shook his head. “I mentioned Eclipse briefly, but didn’t go into much detail. Honestly, I was hoping she’d be up by now.”

“I admit I’m surprised by her level of guilt. She had never shown such loyalty before,” Yzak remarked, leaning forward in his chair.

“Waltfeld has the charisma to get along with anyone and that person, in turn, gets along with him. It’s quite a gift and one that took Eclipse by surprise, I’m sure. They respect each other and Aisha adored her, so I think that had something to do with it too.” The redcoats gave a non-committal noise and DaCosta sighed, crossing his arms over his chest thoughtfully. “Eclipse blames herself, as does most of the crew. Hell, I was stuck in the _Lesseps_ the entire time. This blow hurt everyone and the fact that she was the only one—besides the commander himself—to survive an encounter with the Strike doesn’t weigh any less. She had two chances to take him down before Commander Waltfeld and Aisha made it on the field, but, in the end, the Strike won.”

Dearka and Yzak shared a curse at that. The Strike had won again. _Again_. How did it keep happening and even against the Waltfeld team?

“If anything, we’re the ones with the prototypes. We should be feeling far more guilt than her,” Dearka muttered, offering a side glance at Eclipse’s prone form.

“Based on that medical jargon shit there might be more to it than that,” Yzak added simply, offering a sad shrug as he leaned on an upraised hand.

“I’ve been hearing those whispers as well,” the greencoat replied quietly, shifting a hand uneasily through his red hair again. It seemed to be a habit. “I don’t know all the details about her physical state, but, frankly, morale is low. Losing Aisha, the commander, four of our main pilots, _and_ Eclipse all at once was a hard blow. The commander’s fine—for the most part—I know that now, but still I wish Eclipse would wake up.”

The three were silent, sentimental about the whole ordeal, but, honestly, not knowing why. For DaCosta, it could’ve been the gut-wrenching feeling of watching a hard loss play out in front of him. Losing colleagues was never easy and even keeping the team going was a drain on his own mental stability. War was awful like that, and DaCosta had promised himself plenty of times he would get out one day, but something always held him back. Question was, was that “something” still there?

Yzak’s and Dearka’s dilemmas were much the same, just bridging on the edge of maturity and immaturity. When they first joined the military, this wasn’t what they expected. Sure, death and pain—both emotional and physical—were part of the deal, but at the time, it was a far-off nightmare. Then, after losing Rusty and Miguel so quickly into their first mission, their battles after with the _Archangel_ and then the Lunar Fleet—well, that nightmare wasn’t so far off anymore.

“We’ll get that Strike,” Yzak spat, for once, surprising everyone by the statement. 

DaCosta said nothing and Dearka agreed softly, but his lips flipped into a frown as he stared at Eclipse’s heart monitor sadly. _Revenge? Is that really the answer?_

* * *

Greed didn’t show up in her dreams this time; in fact she didn’t dream at all. The last thing Eclipse remembered was the slick feeling of the scalpel as she stabbed some persistent doctor. Then, she didn’t care—why the hell would a Berserker care whether a guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?—but now she felt nauseous. That feeling had been racking her body a lot lately, and, frankly, she didn’t care much for it. 

Things were so much easier when she didn’t give a damn.

Dry heaving over the side of the bed, the redhead barely had time to appreciate the wet washcloth put on her forehead. It was cool—and very relieving—but her brain felt like it was throbbing; pulsing with too much blood and failing pain killers. Her left arm strained against the bed, seemingly strapped to her side and she felt her bed jerk as she pulled. Was she restrained?

“Just keep breathing slowly, Eclipse. You’ll be fine. This is just a reaction to waking up so abruptly,” the nurse said, presumably she was the one holding the washcloth to her forehead. The redhead felt the vague sensation of something being pulled off her skin around her temples but another dry heave stole her attention. Nothing was going to come up, the redhead knew. What was there to? She didn’t know how long she had been out, but based on the pain in her head, she was wishing she had just stayed unconscious.

“Here, I got it,” a male’s voice said and the pressure on her forehead shifted. “Eclipse, just breathe.”

Breathe. Everyone was telling her to just fucking breathe as if that hadn’t been the thing she was going to do anyway. It was infuriating. Whether she wanted to be in that moment or not, she was alive and there was nothing left for her to do.

Coughing a few times, she forced herself to settle down and turned back onto the bed when she felt her stomach had calmed down enough to not force its way up her esophagus. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the face of the male voice she had heard earlier. He was young, blond, and had a stethoscope around his neck so her deduction that he was a doctor was probably accurate.

“How are you feeling?” he asked and Eclipse swallowed. What was that look on his face?

Why was he looking at her like that?

“O-okay,” she managed, looking away at the wall instead of his eyes and lightly tugging on her restraints.

He sighed and gave a small chuckle. “I admit I’m relieved. You gave us all quite a scare.” He turned her face back to him and flashed a light in her eyes. “We had to calm you down when you had arrived and we pumped a bit too much anesthesia into your system. You’ll have some side effects, I’m afraid.” His explanation was so matter of fact she felt herself tense. “Amazing, really, that you even awoke.”

“She’s lucky, y’know, she was about to be prepped for transfer not two hours from now,” the nurse chimed in absently, making the redhead jump. She was so glad someone else was still in the room that she turned her head too quickly to the side and winced, the pain returning to her head.

“Just relax,” the doctor said, misunderstanding her panicked look. “You’ll definitely survive the transfer now.” She felt her eyes widen and her heart monitor sped up. Who _was_ this doctor? “I’d like to do more assessments, before you leave,” he continued and walked to the other side of the room.

She pulled at her restraints again. “Why am I—Can I?” she asked and the two medical professionals shared a look before the doctor nodded. The nurse walked over and unbuckled the belts around her wrists and ankles then helped her sit up, dangling her legs over the side of the bed.

Hurried steps in the hall caught their attention as Eclipse was massaging the skin around her wrists. “Did I hear right? Is Eclipse really—” DaCosta stopped, stared, and did a full body checkout of the redhead sitting on the other side of the room. At any other time, Eclipse may have slapped him for the obvious gesture, but right then, she was happy to see a familiar face. 

Wait.

“Comm—” she began, but the words gurgled in her throat as the nurse shoved a thermometer under her tongue; however, he understood anyway. DaCosta sighed and looked down for a moment, making Eclipse’s heart skip a beat. He sighed and looked up, matching her worried stare with a calm one of his own. “Commander Waltfeld’s alive, Eclipse, but Aisha’s gone.”

The redhead’s eyes lit up at the commander’s survival, but instantly turned downcast when she heard about his co-pilot. Sweat beaded on her forehead, feeling her face whiten under everyone’s hot gaze. Yes, hot. DaCosta knew her abilities—had seen it. He blamed her, she knew. That calm look was accusatory. Hell, the whole team probably blamed her. She should have gone berserk and destroyed the Strike when she had the chance, but that damned pride of hers had won out in the end. And now she had to pay for it. The coffee runs, the unpleasant skirmishes in the market, the way Aisha pampered her, it was all just a vague memory. 

She would never get them back.

And it was all her fault. 

“Come, we’ll talk about this later,” the doctor said, shooing DaCosta out. “I’d like to do a few more tests and a little rest before she’s shipped out would do her some good.”

“S-sure, okay,” DaCosta said and turned back to Eclipse. Her reaction to the news had worried him. “I’ll come see you later,” he said firmly and she looked up briefly to nod before the nurse took out the temperature and the doctor closed the door in front of him.

She really didn’t want him to leave; didn’t want to be left alone with these two again. She wanted to get as much information as she could. _The commander’s alive,_ she thought, a goofy grin gracing her lips before the devil snatched it away again. _But Aisha’s… Commander, I’m so sorry. I should’ve self-destructed or… or…_

“Right, my name is Dr. Drudger and I’ve been looking through your files. I must say, you’re an interesting patient.” He handed her a cup of water before reaching forward and putting his palm against her forehead. “Your temperature was a little high, but nothing to worry about.” She tensed instantly, the water jumping in her cup at the gesture. “Tell me, dear, do you know how much trouble you’ve put us through?”

“I want to see Commander Waltfeld,” she said softly and turned away from his insistent stare. Out of everyone, he was the last one she wanted to talk to, and, in a desperate attempt to find other company, she searched the room for the nurse, but realized she must have left when Dr. Drudger was talking.

_Shit._

“Do you now? From what I’ve heard, your guilty conscious is what may’ve induced your coma, not our medical practices.”

 _Coma?_ She paused, not expecting to hear that. She just assumed she had been out for a few hours. “How long—” she started, but he had already continued his thought.

“So tell me, who in her right mind would want to see the source of her problems?”

 _That_ was bold. “You know nothing about it!”

“I know your brain’s on the verge of collapsing,” the doctor explained calmly, holding up a hand to silence another outburst. “I’ve already talked about this with your commander, but he won’t listen to reason; hopefully, you will. While you were unconscious, we did some evaluation tests and came up with some interesting information. I want to say it’s a bad thing, but seeing as you’re still alive, it might not be as awful as I originally anticipated. Lunar Eclipse, your mind is in a very delicate position at the moment and I’d like to do further tests in order to figure out how we can help you.”

 _Collapsing?_ Eclipse thought, unable to keep the surprise off her face despite the fact that this doctor deserved nothing other than her anger. “It’s like a drug, y’know,” Namarra had said. Was this just scientific proof?

“Delicate how?” she asked.

“Well, when you were brought in, your hysteria and hallucinations—among other symptoms—prompted us to check your head for further damage. Upon scanning your brainwaves, we found out you had none, at least not until you fell unconscious. This monitor here,” he pointed to the darkened screen just to the right of her IV stand, “was measuring your brainwaves. They had been normal when you awoke ,but it doesn’t give us any answers as to what happened a few days ago.”

 _Days?_ She had been out for days? Eclipse turned away from his look again to look up at the monitor, only then remembering the sensation before of something being pulled off her skin on both sides of her head. _Brain-dead, huh?_ _Apparently, this Berserker thing has more to it than just heightened skills and the need to be overly sadistic,_ she mused. _I wonder if Namarra knew anything about this._

“So, you understand my concern then? I don’t think you should be anywhere near a battlefield in your condition. Would you consent to staying here under my observation?”

The redhead almost said yes, until she heard the words “under my observation.” Yes, she did want to stay on the _Lesseps_ with the commander and DaCosta. Sure, the desert was a bit too hot for her liking—and the sun was far from the word “pleasurable”—but she fit in there. Dearka and Yzak may have been getting “teammate-like friendly” as of late, but what was going to happen as soon as they were all back under Le Creuset’s supervision? Would they shift back to their old selves? Eclipse really didn’t want to be around them when that happened. She liked them now and if leaving them to stay on the _Lesseps_ meant she had that false memory forever, she wasn’t about to complain.

And then there was Athrun and Nicol. Her last encounter with them was far from pleasant, and why should she risk her mental state with more emotional turmoil? But… this doctor. The look in this young man’s eyes scared her more than the thought of leaving the _Lesseps_. He wanted her under _his_ close observation?

What the hell did that entail?

“No,” Eclipse responded. “I know more than you think about my ‘mental condition’ and believe me when I say your tests won’t do too much. It’s about time I joined the rest of my team, sir.”

Obviously, that wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear, but he masked his anger well. “I’m sorry to hear that.” The doctor sighed, pushing off the bed to stand near the doorway. “Honestly, I’m not sure you’d last another stressful battle like this one. Without further tests, you won’t be able to get the right treatment to keep—whatever it is—from killing you. Tell me, does that scare you in the least?”

“No offense, sir, but I think I know more about my mind than you do.”

“Are you so sure, soldier?”

“No, but I’m willing to take the chance.”

* * *

Seeing as Eclipse fell asleep soon after her “delightful” conversation with Dr. Drudger, she neither got the chance to see Waltfeld nor say goodbye to DaCosta. Waking up on the transport carrier was an interesting experience as well. Surprisingly, the redhead wasn’t startled by the whole ordeal—blissfully sleeping as some nurses pushed her wheelchair down the hallways—but now, she was just plain pissed. Clawing at her IV tubes, she tried to run out and say her final farewells, but a sudden head rush—and the biting pain in her right leg—sent her crashing to her knees. 

“You really must be more careful,” Le Creuset cooed, hoisting her to her feet and helping her sit back in the chair. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t leave without talking to them.”

“We’re on a strict schedule, Eclipse, and you are in no position to say otherwise.”

“Yes, I understand, but please—”

“Sir, everything’s onboard and we’re ready to take off,” Dearka announced, both him and Yzak saluting as they walked up. They noticed the redhead next, but made no overly emotional reaction to her consciousness other than a quick eye twitch. Perhaps it was because the commander was there.

Too bad, Eclipse didn’t care about that at the moment. “Sir, please. Just a few—”

Le Creuset sighed, putting a firm hand on her shoulder when she tried to get up once more. Shaking his head, he waited for the other two redcoats to come over before he began talking. “I’m sorry to have to tell you all this right here, but there seems to be no better time. Commander Waltfeld passed away not a half hour ago, while you, Eclipse, were sleeping and you two were helping with the departure. The doctors tried desperately to save him, but, in the end, an infection—forming at the base of his amputated arm—is what claimed his life.”

 _You’re lying_ , Eclipse thought, but not even she believed the words. Why would he lie?

“Alas,” the commander continued, watching each face carefully, “his second-in-command was so distraught about it all he could only express his apologies for not wishing us off in person.”

The redhead stopped breathing; in fact, she was sure she did. Another head rush racked her body even though she was sitting safely in the chair, and would have knocked her out completely if her pride wasn’t still holding onto some string of hope. No tears stung her eyes this time—having neither the energy nor the emotional stability for such an act—but her hands were clenched in raw fury. 

Someone was going to die.

And horribly.

“Truly, I’m sorry. This is a great loss indeed.”

* * *

The arrival at Gibraltar wasn’t as glorious as originally anticipated. Well, maybe Eclipse didn’t think “glorious” so much as “a time for a well-needed rest.” The transport was ridiculous. Yzak and Dearka started bickering about… something. Eclipse’s mind was elsewhere and couldn’t concentrate on the conversation even if she tried.

Commander Waltfeld was dead.

Her mind was indeed cruel then, churning that news over and over in her mind instead of sending her off into the much-needed bliss of sleep.

Dead.

They were both gone.

She remained silent the rest of the ride, speaking only once when they landed to let Yzak and Dearka know that she was okay and ready to leave.

“We might come around and visit,” Dearka mentioned offhandedly as he and Yzak walked at her sides. A male nurse pushed the redhead towards the infirmary, his pace brisk in the evening chill. Though the difference in temperature between Banadiya and Gibraltar probably had more to do with everyone’s shivers.

“‘Might,’ huh?” Eclipse asked, her voice displaying more emotion than her face did.

“Sorry, but I have a feeling we’re going to be pretty busy.” 

Watching Le Creuset walk out next, the redhead finally caught on. They were back under his command and his commanding was far from the laid-back atmosphere she had been spoiled with in Banadiya. Their stay was going to be hellish indeed. “Any news on when Athrun and Nicol are getting here?” she asked instead, not wanting to dwell on the sad memories she had left behind.

“They’re coming?” Yzak grumbled, showing more anger than actual curiosity about the answer. He probably should have expected it, but even he was off his game lately.

“I’d assume so,” Dearka finished for Eclipse, figuring out her line of thinking. “Since the ‘Legged Ship’ is here on Earth, there’s no reason for them to be in outer space.”

The redhead debated telling them the “Legged Ship” was formally know as the _Archangel_ , but in the end, she just chickened out. After all, what good would that kind of information do? The name “Legged Ship” was easier to spit out than _Archangel_ anyway. “And we are a team,” Eclipse added quietly after a moment.

“Well, as long as I’m able to unpack before that pretty boy comes and starts bossing me around, I’ll be fine,” Yzak muttered, a scowl on his lips.

“I’m assuming you’re talking about Athrun,” Dearka said, hiding a smile.

“Who else?”

Eclipse vaguely listened as another bickering session began. The dock wasn’t busy that evening so very few soldiers were wandering about and no one seemed to notice their arrival. It’s for the best, she figured, not wanting anyone else to fuss over them. Someone was dealing with the Buster and the Duel, she knew, so really there was nothing more to worry about. Sighing, she looked up, watching the stars start to pepper the evening sky. She wished her anger had held out a little longer, but it seemed as if she was going to succumb to grief anyway, despite her efforts. It had, indeed, been easier when she didn’t care.

“Hey, I’m sure you’ll be walking around again soon,” Yzak said and she turned to look at him. Whether her solemn expression had prompted the statement or something else, Eclipse wasn’t sure. He gave a shrug as if answering her question.

“And I heard your suit might already be here,” Dearka added, turning her attention back over to him. “We can see how much of a mechanical reject it really is.” He winked and Eclipse gave a soft smile as she shook her head.

“Thanks, guys.”

* * *

“So, this is it,” Eclipse muttered, ordering the greencoat to stop the jeep in the mobile suit hangar, careful of her right leg and bandaged left hand as she swung out of the passenger’s side. Staring at the crutch lying in the back seat, she debated bringing it out, but decided to be stubborn instead. After all, she had to start rehab sooner or later. “MW-979ca STEALTH. For such a mouthful, I thought it’d be grander.”

“Well, you obviously don’t know what this baby can do, then,” the main mechanic announced, stepping over to meet the redhead at the foot of the machine. Offering a quick salute with his clipboard, he gave her a teasing smile.

“I don’t, do I?” Eclipse muttered, ignoring his sleezy grin. The redhead had convinced herself that morning she would mask her foul mood, but it was harder than she had anticipated. First, her right hand had cramped up—it hadn’t done that in a long while—and then her leg and left hand decided to start whining too. It was a huge pity fest and not one Eclipse wanted to be involved in. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice and when her head wanted to join in on the fun, the porcelain god was the only thing she could pray to. _Damn, with as many times as I offer sacrifice to that thing, I should just become a nun and get it over with._

“Would you like me to enlighten you?” the mechanic asked, noting the glazed over look in her eyes; however—despite his smile before—he didn’t want to know what she was thinking about. He had learned a long time ago most pilots were just a little off their rocker.

“Everything would be in the manual, wouldn’t it?”

“Did you really want to go up there in your current condition?”

“I take it you won’t bring it down to me,” Eclipse said, slightly frustrated—and amused at the same time—with his stoic look. For some reason, she thought only certain soldiers could perfect that expression. Kind of refreshing to know she was wrong. “Point taken.” 

“Alright, I’ll let you take a moment to bask in its greatness before I go into specific details.”

 _Cocky little bastard, isn’t he?_ the redhead mused, covering a smile with an upraised hand, but turned to the Stealth nonetheless. Considering the amount of time it took them to build the machine, it was quite impressive. The body looked like it was taken straight from a GINN, but only not as bulky and more angular in how the armor was shaped. A bottomless black color seemed to be the paint of choice, the only thing offsetting the overwhelming feeling of it all was the accent of silver around the biceps, cockpit area, upper thighs, and head. Ah, the head. Ironically, it was a humanoid-like face—common with all the other prototypes—but on top was a helmet and fin much like Commander Le Creuset’s CGUE. It didn’t look bad, but made the face look a tad smaller than, for example, the Aegis or Blitz. Well, Eclipse was willing to get used to it and since she was in such a judgmental mood at the time, perhaps she couldn’t fully appreciate the design just yet. She was going to move onto evaluating the backside when the mechanic’s sudden explanation became her chief priority.

“Judging by the look on your face, you’re impressed. Good; you should be. This baby stands a tad over 22 meters—making it tall for a mobile suit—and weighs about 75 tons. We installed a new battery that just came off the assembly line. It's an improved version of the standard CGUE battery, and should last you between 5 to 20 hours, but if you put too much strain on it—being a tad trigger-happy for example—it’ll die before you know it. Be smart; that’s all I’ll tell ya.” Eclipse merely nodded, choosing not to answer just yet. Staring at the machine, she now held more admiration for it than she had a moment ago. 

The good part was, it could only get better.

“Besides just the battery though, the Stealth comes with a HFC-EPR, or, since you’re probably not fluent in the technical jargon, Hydrogen Fuel Cell—”

“—Emergency Power Rejuvenator,” the redhead finished, noting his surprised look out of the corner of her eye. “Yes, I’ve done my fair share of time in the ugly world of mechanics so spare me the ‘simpleton’ talk.”

 _Rawr,_ the man thought, beginning to hate this girl more and more. Too bad he didn’t know that was the only thing Eclipse could remember. _How come the pretty ones always come with attitudes?_ Seeing her glare shifting in his direction, the mechanic quickly cleared his throat and continued. “Well—uh—yes, but it's a one-shot system and needs to be replaced at a high-tech facility, so don’t forget that. However, it’s _very_ useful—as you probably know—for recharging your battery one hundred percent mid-battle if need be. Remember though, once; I can’t stress that enough. _Once._ I’d hate for you to be shot down for just having a terrible memory.” 

Eclipse nodded, thinking of the possibilities with such an interesting feature literally at her fingertips. She might be able to get her revenge after all.

"The armor might be something you’ll be interested in, considering your tendency to do reckless things in battle—or so I’ve heard,” the mechanic added a second later, feeling the blow of her scowl that time. Damn, why did he do this for a living again? “It’s an improved form of the CGUE, but still nothing like the Phase Shift armor your teammates have. ‘Bullshit’ you might say, but, well, sorry we’re good, but not _that_ good just yet. On the plus side, it doesn't drain your battery—and you’re a bit more resilient than the typical GINN—even if it won't make you immune to physical weaponry. The outer shell of the armor is plastered with a layer of anti-beam coating similar to the surface of the Duel's or even the Aile Strike's shield. While that may sound all fine and dandy, I’d advise you _not_ to rely on it to save your ass. It should at least prevent a stray beam from blowing a hole through you, every now and again, but that’s about it. Oh, and even that will deteriorate over time.”

Eclipse sighed, not liking all the “buts” in this conversation. Yes, she knew ZAFT wasn’t perfect, but she was still waiting for the announcement of an “invincible” mobile suit. Honestly, how hard could that be? Hm, perhaps that’s why she made a better pilot than an engineer.

She was way too ambitious.

“Woah there little lass, before you force a grenade down my throat,” the mechanic began, not liking how this redhead could shift emotions so suddenly. One minute she was doting on the unit and the next moment she wanted to put his head between its fingers and squeeze. Well, now he knew why he never got married. “I should tell you, the Stealth is really designed for more special operations than, say, being a scapegoat in a battle. Emphasis on the special part, by the way. Your primary defensive weapon will be the stealth systems, both passive and active, including an improved Mirage Colloid cloak. It can last up to 180 minutes, and, hopefully, I won’t have to tell you to use that wisely either. In other words, you have three hours of invisibility per battery, for a grand total of six without returning to base if you use the EPR."

“Sounds about right,” the redhead said, absently fiddling with the bandage on her left hand. She wasn’t bored, per se, more like over anxious and not the scared kind of anxious either; excitement was the better word. Impressive was another good term for the situation but that really only related to the Stealth. And he hadn’t even gotten to her weaponry yet.

"There’s one more tidbit I’d like to add, your cockpit has also been revamped and expanded a bit, so it should be more comfortable for stake outs and the like. There’s also an expanded gear locker to put your—uh—personal equipment,” the mechanic stuttered, clearing his throat and hiding a smile from the priceless look she cast him. She even looked embarrassed for a moment. “Anyway, the life support systems have been boosted as well. Oh—given your last reentry to earth—I’m sure you’ll like this little feature we added in; there is an option to mount single use, disposable atmospheric re-entry stealth shields to the front of the machine. Alright, it may not sound that great, but it allows for undetected transit from orbit to surface, entirely unaided.” Eclipse looked happy about that one, so he moved on, pointing up at the wings next. "Those wings are a new system type called ‘HiMat.’ They fold out to a wider configuration to provide enhanced maneuverability during combat, and also allow for unaided atmospheric flight. Or—if you don’t feel like being some damned seagull—they can fold back for faster flight in space or ground bound movement. One problem, though; they’re terribly delicate, so keep an eye out, deary."

“ _Deary_?” Eclipse wondered, rolling her eyes when he just gave an innocent smile in return. “Your babble’s growing long, sir, so can we please stop with the pet names and get this over with. Forgive me if my headache’s slowly turning to a migraine.”

“I know you’re sore over your loss at Banadiya and all, but—”

“That’s way out of line. You stick with the technical stuff and I’ll worry about my psychological welfare.”

“Of course, ma’am; sorry about that.” 

Eclipse never turned away, in fact she was enjoying the scared look in the mechanic’s eyes. Sadistic? Probably, but after all she had gone through in the past few days, the attitude shift was refreshing. “Now, what about the weaponry.”

“Yes—well—there’s a pair of 20mm gatling CIWS guns in the head for anti-missile and light anti-vehicle purposes. You might not be so happy about the positioning, but let me tell ya, it can come in handy when you’re pinned against the wall. Basically, you’ll be spitting them from the mouth, honey, but hey, I’ve always like a woman who was good with her mou—” he stopped himself then, instinctively jumping two feet away from the redhead. She didn’t make any movements, but, damn, the thoughtful look on her face was scary enough. He could almost imagine his intestines wrapped around his neck too.

When was he ever going to learn?

“S-sorry, again, I wasn’t thinking, ma’am. L-let’s just move on, okay?” Still no verbal response—a blessing in disguise—and not a cue the mechanic was going to miss. Clearing his throat, he began once more. “E-each hip conceals a holster with a pair of EARP Daggers, which stands for Explosive ARmor Penetrators. Hm, just think of them like large grenades made into the shape of throwing knives. One, good hit will take out a GINN—or blow apart a G-Weapon’s shield—but if you plan on taking out a carrier, more firepower is probably needed. Now, let’s move onto your hand-to-hand stuff. I’ve heard you’re pretty skilled in this area, so I’d like you to know we took that into account. This baby’s beefed up for that sort of ‘in the face’ action, let me tell ya. On the top of each forearm is a circular, armor buckler for extra defense. Based off the ‘Gleipnir’ offensive shield system of the Blitz, each buckler can be fired like a projectile, sprouting beam edges and trailing behind it a metapolymer cord. Just imagine the damage you can do with something like that and I’m sure some teammates might not mind being pulled out of a shitty situation, if you’re into that kind of thing. Although, the chords might not stand for pulling too much weight, so watch it. I’d hate to see a good intention turn bad just because you got over anxious.”

Eclipse could only agree with him. So far, she had been able to avoid the “good Samaritan” scenario, but if all this firepower got to her head, she might think she actually was invincible. 

Perhaps all these “buts” weren’t bad things after all.

“Beneath the bucklers on both arms are two, foldout swords, each with a blade four meters long. Standard GINN physical blades—made out of steel—but they can deploy or retract at any given time and ‘in the blink of an eye’ if you’ll permit me the cliché. They’re best used for surprise attacks—which I’m assuming you picked up on—but are really good in ‘save your ass’ times too. Nothing like a reliable weapon to pull out at the last second before some Natural chops your cockpit in two. Anyway, there's another, four-meter blade in the top of each foot too. Deploy it at the right time and you can officially make eunuchs out of every male mobile suit on Earth and in space. Appealing, no? So, knowing that, how’s your football skills, little lady?"

The redhead just sighed and shook her head. She was going to ask how many “endearments” he was going to shower her with before the briefing was over, but restrained herself when he made the “eunuch” comment. 

That, at least, had earned him some brownie points.

"Now, this I know you’ll love, oh ambidextrous one. The Stealth also has 2 beam sabers—one in each forearm—that are spring-loaded to drop into your hands when you don’t want a measly army knife to save your apple-bottom ass.” That compliment may have gone a little overboard. He had no idea how lucky he should feel at the moment. “I’m sure you don’t care to know the ‘potpourri’ information, but I’ll tell ya anyway. Your right blade’s a crimson color—apparently, it has a better output of energy for a fiercer attack—and your left is blue—better for defense. Not sure if the colors are just superstitious shit or actually make a difference, but it might help you out in the long run.” The mechanic just shrugged, pausing a moment to make sure he didn’t forget anything major. “Oh,” he snapped his fingers, “there are two, high-energy beam rifles strapped to the rear of the machine—just above its ass or the curve of the lower back to give you a visual sense—for quick draws and while it may be a weak long-range attack, it may buy you enough time to gather your bearings. There’s also a sniper rifle specially designed for this suit as well. However, the two guns I just mentioned have to be taken off in order to mount the thing on your back. Sorry, there’s just not enough room on this baby.” 

Eclipse could only shake her head. The machine would have been far too perfect if it had had all of that juicy stuff.

Well, either that or off balanced.

“Now, this is the last bit I’ll tell ya, but save the sigh of relief for when I leave. Trust me, I’ll be issuing one of my own. This baby is too decked out for my tastes, but if you’re able to destroy a few more Naturals than the average pilot, I say have fun. Okay, in your left palm is a one-shot, 330mm Hyper-Impulse cannon, based off the ‘Scylla’ design from the Aegis. You only get one shot, mind you, but whatever you hit will be sunbathing in the fires of Hell before you know it. A thing straight out of your nightmares, I’m assuming. Well, maybe not yours but there are a few out there who’d rather have their body put into a grave than be cremated.”

“True, and you have a point; however, I’d rather be cremated any day,” Eclipse admitted, this time turning to the mechanic thoughtfully instead of casting an icy glare. “After all, if you’re all burned up, there’s no chance you’d be buried alive, right?”

“Heh, terribly morbid, but—uh—true I guess. Shall I put that in your will?”

“Sir, if I die, I’m sure you’re not far behind. You’d probably rather be starting on your own than messing around with mine.”

 _Cocky bitch,_ he thought, but smirked nonetheless. With as much fire power as this Stealth had, the prospect of her dying was a small one. So, in that off chance she did have bad luck, he _would_ be running for the hills. 

“I’ll come back as soon as I can and take her for a test run. Sound good?”

“Uh, sure. I’m assuming I should also have the base on high alert as well. Wouldn’t want you to have too much fun, after all.”

“Whatever you want.” Eclipse smirked and limped back to the jeep, motioning for the greencoat to take her back to her living arrangements. The mechanic waved mockingly at her as they drove away, laughing all the louder when her middle finger waved back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, took me a little bit to get in the emotional mindset to do this chapter. I changed it... a little. I had made Yzak and Dearka a bit too clingy in the past and I didn't like it this time around, so I changed it a bit. I also tend to create rather crass mechanics, so I will apologize now. I absolutely love the mechanic bits I do in this story, so I don't really know why it turned out that way. Just kinda happened. (shrugs)
> 
> So, at the beginning we learn a little bit more about the Berserker and get to meet the ambitious Cale Drudger. Poor Eclipse... I do wonder some days what her future might have ended up looking like if she had stayed in Banadiya...
> 
> The Stealth is introduced at the end and I cannot take much credit for the specs of the suit. A good friend of mine helped me put it together at the time and I've come to love my little chimera over the years. I do wonder what Eclipse would be like if she had stuck with the BuCUE as well... Hm... I wonder if I should to a AU of my AU... 
> 
> Well, not much more I can think about this one. We're moving past the desert now to bigger and brighter things, or just the days of the Zala team. 
> 
> See you all in the next chapter and thanks again for taking a moment out of your busy lives.
> 
> Strata


	30. Another Coffee Addict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally get to see what this CA is about and Eclipse pays Namarra a visit.

** Another Coffee Addict **

It was another three days before Eclipse made it back to the hangar and her new mobile suit. She hadn’t planned it that way, but sometimes life had a tendency to do things she didn’t want it to. Say, killing two personal friends and putting a huge gash in her leg. The delay wasn’t because of her lack of excitement—far from it, actually—but more like her rehab was taking up more time than anticipated. 

Well, that and she really enjoyed taking long trips to the shooting range to put a few holes into some dummies. 

She could thank that little menace called “life” for that bit.

“Ah, glad to see you back on your feet. How’s the leg?” the mechanic asked, giving her the full body checkout like three days prior. Apparently, he forgot what she looked like.

“Going smoothly, but they’re not happy I’m trying to go so fast. Even by Coordinator standards I shouldn’t be about without crutches.”

“Sounds about right.”

“I just have some stubborn genes, I guess.”

“Well, that’s actually comforting to hear. I’d hate to see your Stealth go down with a weakling in the cockpit.” It sounded like he was mocking her, but his face was serious. No lip twitch, no fidgety hands, nothing. He really _did_ take pride in that mobile suit.

“Don’t worry, sir,” the redhead smirked—going with the joking theory— and walked up to the man with her hands on her hips. Leaning forward, she arched her eyebrows. “ _You_ don’t have to pilot it.”

He just laughed and walked away, tossing her the clipboard he was holding. “You said you did this technical stuff before so just do whatever you want. She’s yours, after all.”

Eclipse was glad her little comment worked. Not that she didn’t like the man—honestly, she found him terribly amusing—but she wanted to explore without “mother’s” watchful eye. It was hard enough with every other pilot looking enviously at her and half of them didn’t even know what a blow torch was. _Such is life,_ the redhead thought and walked—well, still limped—over to the lift.

“Look at that tail wag!” she heard from across the hangar, deciding the mechanic didn’t go too far away after all. Either that or he felt the need to get the last word in. The loud whistle brought some more unwanted attention but Eclipse turned and flashed a mocking smile. She probably could have said something, but she was in deep water as it was. Playing along would have only boosted his ego and the redhead wanted to deflate it, not appease it.

“Oh yeah, I wouldn’t mind taking a hold of _that_ one of these days,” another chimed in, making Eclipse flush with anger. She was really starting to hate mechanics. Pulling a lever on lift, she ascended towards the Stealth’s cockpit, muttering a few choice words.

“Ah, playing hard to get, are you?”

“Y’know, that cockpit _is_ big enough for two people.”

 _You are so dead,_ the redhead thought, trying to drown out the insidious laughter as she climbed into the cockpit.

“Now _there’s_ a view!” she heard one last man yell, knowing what he was talking about, but trying really hard to just ignore it—since she had been doing such a good job of that so far. After all, the easiest way into the machine was head first. No matter how much her valuable assets pleased her onlookers on the main floor, she wasn’t about to jeopardize a pain-free entry. Listening to one last whistle echo outside, she heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back in the seat. _I must be losing my touch; no one’s terrified of me at first glance. I should’ve kept my mouth shut._ Shrugging, she pulled the screen down across the front of her seat, unfolding the keyboard in the same motion.

Setting the clipboard off to the side, she was about to start tinkering with the OS when a manila folder fell down and hit her on the head. Eyes tearing up for a moment—the corner of those things really hurt—she rubbed the spot and grumbled a little before reaching inside. She pulled out six papers. Four looked to be a thorough explanation of the Stealth and all the gadgets, including the CA system Eclipse had been looking forward to ever since Waltfeld joked about it at Banadiya. Choosing not to dive into those just yet, she glanced at the other two papers, withholding a gasp when she realized what they were. “A letter,” she breathed, frantically searching for the writer’s name at the end. “L-Lathan?” she stammered, glancing down at his messy—but still familiar—signature under the word “love.” The redhead just stared, holding onto the paper as if it was going to read itself to her. 

_How long has it been?_ she wondered. _Months? Years?_ Shuffling the papers around, she managed to find the first page and began reading. However, she had to stop about halfway through the first paragraph, noting a different form of penmanship—and color of ink—in the margins and around some of the original words. Checking into that for a little longer, she held in a laugh, seeing a little note up in the right-hand corner. “Orange pen = Heine,” it read.

 _Hey, sis! I bet you didn’t see this one coming and the fact that you’re sitting there in utter shock does, in fact, float my boat._ **(And mine too, by the way. Ah, beloved, it’s so nice to see you again!)** _You have no idea how long it took me to find you_ **(He didn’t try that hard…)** _and when I figured out you were in some special training program I about shit in my pants._ **(Only because you can kick his ass now.)** _How the hell did you get into that mess? Y’know what? Never mind. I’d hate to add insult to injury, so I’ll let you keep your nightmares to yourself. I_ will _make you tell me about it sometime, though. I like to be a shoulder to cry on, and all that jazz._ **(Me too!)**

 _Anyway, I bet you’re wondering what I’ve been up to?_ **(You probably don’t care but just appease his better nature, okay? He’s pretty sensitive.)** _Well, I just got into this mechanic thing about four months ago, and, as luck would have it, I was chosen to be one of the few working on this mobile suit. Given, I had a few connections to help me get this far,_ **(And I would be one of them.)** _but if this’ll keep you out of trouble, my job here is done. Inside the packet is information about the CA system I personally designed._ **(Yeah, yeah. Trust me, Lexi, he’s had a huge ego about this for a while now. How the hell did you live with him for 14 years?)** _It’ll probably be handier than you want to believe, so be sure to use it. I know you better than you think I do, so don’t you dare just ignore the thing and lie to me later on. Oh, and this might make you laugh;_ **(Huh? Lexi laughs?)** _I got the idea from the famous Lacus Clyne’s pet robot thing. It’s not the same pink puff ball, so be of good cheer,_ **(Who honestly talks like that anymore? Lathan’s cliché addiction is ridiculous…)** _but it sparked the design. And here’s one last thing about the CA system; I only have one more ear bud, so don’t you dare_ _lose or break that one, hear me? Also, since I have it on me at all times, you won’t be able to get it until we see each other face-to-face. In other words, don’t be stupid._ **(Lexi stupid? Nah, really? Hah, you can’t shoot me so I can say this and not be afraid I’ll be singing a few octaves higher.)**

 **(This paragraph seems a little too serious to make any smartass remarks.)** _Okay, you’re probably not going to like this bit of news, but I got a letter from Mom the other day. Now, that isn’t the bad part—although, I’d rather not hear from her at the moment either—but, apparently, Cagalli’s missing. I’m surprised Mom had enough guts to put something like that in a letter, but I wanted to relay it over to you. I have a feeling you and Cags have gotten out of touch recently—call it a hunch—but I know you’re still close. You can’t grow up with someone and just drop them cold turkey like they didn’t matter. I’m not totally sure what you can do with this information, but maybe you’ll hear something on the grapevine. If you do, let me know and I’ll tell Mom and Dad. Lord Uzumi’s trying to keep it on the lowdown, but I’m sure he’s sending out some people to find her as we speak—well, write. Apparently, Colonel Kisaka is missing as well and I’m thinking he followed her. Again, I’m sorry if this causes more worry than anything, but everyone has a right to know what family’s up to. Hint, hint, why the hell didn’t you write me? Anyway, we’ll argue about that later._

 _Back to the Mom and Dad thing, they’ve been asking about you. I’ve been discreetly avoiding the subject, but they’re getting nervous. Just wait until they find out you’re an elite in the ZAFT military, eh? That’ll teach their pacifistic egos to keep their heads up their asses. Oops, sorry, that was a little harsher than intended, but we’ll keep that between you, me, and the lamppost, okay?_ **(I won’t comment on the cliché again, but do you guys really not like your parents? Lathan refuses to talk about them and I never bothered to ask you. I’m sure you guys have had a falling out, but they’re still alive, Lexi. That counts for a lot nowadays. And, obviously, pacifism isn’t a bad thing. Okay, none of my business, right? Sorry, I guess we can talk about this later.)** _I kind of feel bad lying about you, but it’s for the best, after all. You were way too sheltered in that place and causing more harm than good, if I do say so myself. How is_ _that anger thing going anyway? Doesn’t get you in trouble, does it? Well, if it does, you probably deserved it. You’ve always been a troublemaker, sis._

 _Let’s see, I’m off in space now. Became close friends with another pilot_ **(That’s me!)** _and have been asked to be his personal mechanic. I didn’t even think that happened around here, but since I’m not that high up on the food chain anyway, I guess it doesn’t matter. His name is Heine Westenfluss_ **(** **:D** **)** _and, apparently, you two have a history? Need I ask?_ **(He’s the one who took it like we had a relationship, so don’t hurt me!)** _At any rate, the guy’s hilarious._ **(Aw…)** _I’m not sure how long we’ll be in space, but I’ll try and contact you before long. Because, hey, if I can create such a cool system as the CA one there’s no reason I can’t hack into it, right? Here’s a question, though, will you contact me before I get another chance? That’d be great, just so I know you got this and actually appreciate_ _all the hard work I put into the Stealth. It was made for you, Lexi, so don’t get killed. You’ve changed a lot since we said goodbye at the terminal. A good change? I couldn’t tell ya, but from what I’ve heard from Heine, I’m worried. Yeah, probably not something you want to hear me say, but be careful, okay?_

_Love,_

_Lathan Rymyr_

**(You guys seem really close, that’s nice to know. I’ll make sure he stays out of trouble, so don’t you worry about that. Besides, you’re going to be in bigger danger than I am anyway, assuming you’re still chasing after SIN-ED. Haven’t heard much from them lately, but they—I assume it was them—did break into ZAFT warehouse not too long ago. Seemed like most of the things taken were spare MS parts, but I’m not sure why they did it. You might know a bit more, but I thought I’d let ya know.**

**Use the suit wisely and even if it’s overly armed—you can thank two, concerned guys for that much firepower—don’t get reckless. We want a return letter, for sure, but not that you died in the battlefield. Understand? Good. Also, with love from Heine Westenfluss.)**

Eclipse smiled—how couldn’t she?—and set the letter down on top of the clipboard, taking an extra second to make sure it wouldn’t slide off before looking at the other pieces of paper in the folder. Skimming through the first few pages—the mechanic had already explained that stuff a couple of days ago—she stopped at the one talking about the CA, or Communication Alteration, System. “It talks to you,” was the first line, both not surprising the redhead in its lack of technical jargon, and getting her frustrated at the same time. 

How typical.

“There’s an ear bud located in a small compartment just below the screens for your main camera,” it went on to explain. Eclipse looked up and saw and amusing orange dot on the indicated spot, causing another smile to grace her lips. “From now on, it should be in your ear—which one is your personal choice. It’ll send out electronic signals directly to your eardrum, establishing a link to the main computer in the Stealth. Might be a bit painful at first, but, eventually, it’ll go away and you’ll be closer to your machine than you ever thought possible. When I mean a direct link, I’m not kidding. Say any order—you’ll be verifying the ‘command initiating sequence’ here in a bit—and the Stealth will comply no matter how far away it is. Oh, and don’t worry, your hearing won’t be affected and it’ll turn off automatically if it comes in contact with moisture. Wouldn’t want you to get electrocuted, now, would we? 

“Well, back to what it can do,” the explanation continued. “It’s kind of a work in process, so, yes, you are basically the guinea pig. The whole suit is voice activated. I know most of the things you’ll be doing—movements, firing, etc.—require physical handling, but I’m hoping there’ll be _something_ you can use this for; especially since you’re doing special ops stuff and might not always be near the suit. Say, you’re on one side of a PLANT and the Stealth is on the other. Well, just call it to set up a rendezvous point and ‘voila’ you have a ride and backup fire if need be. Basically, just tinker around with it and you might find some interesting uses. After the battle it’ll be the most interesting. There’s a program set up to compiles statistics and other data. Well, there’s supposed to be. Never finished it so, the next time I see you I’ll be sure to work on it, okay? Call it incentive. Oh, and be sure to call me a genius later, since, well, I am.”

Eclipse blinked, but ended up smiling a few seconds later. Not only did the system prove he was, in fact, the genius he claimed to be, but his ego was still through the roof—if she would allow herself to steal one of his clichés. Yes, it was a work in progress, but it could probably come in handy. The instant backup was very alluring; especially if she just happened to get pissed at Namarra. Which—she thought for a moment—she actually was. Anyway, her brother tried so hard to create it for her, so she should be proud of it, no?

“Alright, punch in this sequence here,” she muttered to herself, going through the step-by-step process Lathan drew up. “And press this button—”

“Initiating voice verification and ear bud sync,” the Stealth responded, making the redhead literally jump in her seat. After the first line of Lathan’s note being, “It talks to you,” Eclipse should have anticipated it, but perhaps the real reason she was so startled was because of the voice. It wasn’t just a low, male baritone or a mid-range alto for a female, but a mixture of the two, creating an interesting combination that was both easy on the ears and unique at the same time. _Leave it to him to be indecisive,_ she thought with a small sigh and reached up to open the compartment with the ear piece. 

Feeling around inside the dark hole, her fingers passed over a small lump. She wrapped her hand around it and pulled it out, surprised by the size. It was no bigger than the nail on her pinky toe and cone shaped, making it ideal to stick in her ear, but the tip looked so sharp the redhead couldn’t help but cringe. Maybe she just didn’t want to put the thing next to her delicate eardrum. On the flat end opposite that nightmare point was one, small button, protruding the surface just enough so Eclipse could reach into her ear and push it down. What it was used for, however, was still unknown. _And leave it to Lathan to leave out information too,_ she grumbled again.

“Ear bud sync incomplete. Cannot continue unless the sync is verified,” her suit said, the monotone inflection a tad more annoying than she originally thought. Either that or what the Stealth was saying was bothersome. 

“Yeah, yeah,” the redhead mumbled and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she slipped the bud into her right ear. At first, she didn’t know how far she was supposed to push it in, but the little thing took care of that for her. Zapping her finger away, Eclipse felt tiny, tentacle-like wires latch onto the sides of—or what she figured to be—her eardrum. A panicked yelp escaped her lips from that sharp pain alone and as soon as the bud started firing what Lathan had called “electrical signals,” she nearly doubled over. “Damnit!” she screeched, grabbing the sides of her head in a futile attempt to soothe her tortured ear.

“Syncing in progress,” her machine stated, but the redhead barely even registered it, too worried about the permanent damage her brother’s “work in progress” was committing. 

Cursing again, she couldn’t help but wonder if he had even bothered to try the thing out himself. _Damn you to Hell, Lathan!_

She heard a loud click after the outburst, jerking her head slightly to the right and causing a little more dizziness than was appreciated. Offering up a small prayer, she hoped the first thing she did in her new mobile suit wasn’t going to be vomiting. Not only had she been doing way too much of that lately, but the Stealth still had the “new” smell and Eclipse would’ve liked to keep it that way. “Syncing in progress,” the Stealth said again, however, this time the frequency was transmitting directly inside her head, feeling—and sounding—like the screeching of too loudly played music on poorly made speakers. Given, the words were hard to make out, but still there nonetheless. “Syncing is complete,” it confirmed a moment later, each syllable becoming more and more bearable than the ones before, but even if Eclipse could hear the words, she couldn’t make out any other noises. “Syncing is complete,” the Stealth repeated, sounding as clear as if she was listening to it in her cockpit.

Blinking away tears, she opened one eye and then the other, cursing the small amount of light passing through the open cockpit in front of her. She half expected a mechanic to be standing there waving his arms in a desperate attempt to get her attention—seeing as she was probably screaming through that whole ordeal—but, alas, no one seemed to care whether or not she had to live with four senses instead of five.

“Syncing is—”

“Yes, I get the idea!” she shouted, pounding the armchair with the effort. _But wait,_ she stopped, staring at her hand and smiling when the realization hit. _I could hear that! And out of both ears!_

“Voice verified, initiating command code sequence. When ready, punch VCOMM onto the screen and state sequence.”

“Huh?” Eclipse muttered, blinking a few times before she finally understood what had happened. She couldn’t help but laugh then, both giddy from her returning fifth sense as well as knowing Lathan would be cracking up if he knew that was how the whole thing went down. 

After all, she always made the best first impressions.

 _Okay, now what to do for a command phrase,_ the redhead thought, leaning back in her seat and staring at the blue screen. _Stealth is too obvious and CA is too boring. Calling it “Lathan” would be going overboard and I hate boosting his ego, so—ah-ha! That’s it!_ Typing in the letters indicated earlier, she waited for the Stealth to say the simple word, “Begin,” before stating the command sequence. “Coffee Addict.”

“Acknowledged.”

Eclipse couldn’t help but smile sadly, choking back a few sudden tears. Commander Waltfeld would be damned proud of her.

* * *

“So, this is where you’ve been hiding,” Nicol shouted, looking up at Eclipse sitting on the lift near the Stealth’s cockpit. Legs crossed in Indian style and a computer in her lap, she looked almost comfortable—and the thoughtful expression on her face made the boy wonder what she was up to—but she looked different; more relaxed. “And here I thought you’d be doing something productive like keeping Yzak from throttling Athrun.”

“You call that productive?” Eclipse asked, twisting around at the sudden interruption to her work. At first, she didn’t recognize her teammate’s voice, but as soon as she turned, she couldn’t help but smile. It had been a while. “I think Dearka can handle that one on his own, don’t ‘cha think?”

Nicol just shrugged, taking a step back as to not strain his neck so much. “Sure, he can hold his own, but I think he likes watching those two fight. Must get some sadistic pleasure out of it or something.”

“Sounds about right,” Eclipse replied, setting the laptop down onto the seat inside the cockpit. Careful of the wires—tripping would hurt a bit—she stepped onto the lift and lowered it to meet the Blitz pilot on the hangar floor. “I bet you missed those two, huh?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, or did you really want me to answer?” Nicol laughed, meeting her halfway. “I had a lot of R and R up there in the PLANTs; it’s a pity I had to come back to chaos.”

“Sorry.” The redhead shrugged. “I tried my hardest, but, in the end, they’re still dickheads.” The boy blinked at the statement, not responding right away and even managing to work up a hearty laugh. “What?” Eclipse asked, not really sure what was so funny. In fact, she got frustrated when he couldn’t even reply right away, still laughing over some ridiculous notion she had no idea about. “What is it?”

“You,” he finally managed, wiping a small tear from the corner of his eye. “I _never_ thought I’d hear you be so—okay, ‘blunt’ probably isn’t the best word, but I’m drawing a blank.”

“Huh? I’ve always been blunt.”

Nicol started laughing again, genuine happiness on his face when he saw the confused look in the redhead’s eyes.

“Yes—trust me—I _know_ you have, but you’ve never been so—uh—”

“So what?”

“No, never mind,” he finished, not willing to say the word “cute” to her face. “Actually, I’m sure Dearka, Yzak, and Athrun can all take care of themselves. I was kind of wondering how you were doing. I heard about your time in Banadiya,” he began, noticing Eclipse’s body tense. “I do hope penning yourself up in here and fidgeting with your new mobile suit isn’t a way to try and avoid anything.”

“You think I’m just in here to make myself stop thinking about it?”

“Yes.”

The redhead visibly cringed, turning her head down and to the side after the comment. _And you said I was blunt?_ she thought, taking a deep breath before turning to face him again. Her voice caught in her throat and she cleared it, turning away before she could say anything. _Nope, not gonna do it,_ she thought. Any little mention had been sending her spiraling down lately and she bit the inside of her cheek. She didn’t need her teammates to see it too.

“You’re not okay, are you?”

“I’m fine, so just stop asking.”

“Well, that basically said, ‘no, I’m lying through my teeth.’”

“Who cares what it _sounded_ like, all that matters is what I _said_ ,” Eclipse spat, only realizing how immature that must have sounded a few minutes later. Biting her cheek again, she looked away and to the side. “So, when did you and Athrun get here, anyway?” It was a cowardly move on her part by changing the subject, but she wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Not yet; maybe not ever.

Right?

Nicol sighed, but didn’t answer the question. Instead, he shook his head and turned slightly. “Can’t even be honest with me, huh? Maybe you haven’t changed after all,” he muttered, taking a step towards the hangar opening. “If you won’t talk about it, at least don’t let it kill you.”

The bitter comment surprised her, but she had no comeback for his words. Perhaps even he was getting tired of having closed-off teammates, but what did he expect? “You’re too kind, Nicol,” she said before he left, causing him to pause.

“So people keep telling me,” he said with a sigh.

“Sometimes it’s easier to handle things alone.”

“ _Is_ it easier though?” he asked, catching her eye then and she lost her words again. What did he want her to say? “Enjoy your new suit, Eclipse. I’ll talk to you later.”

 _Damnit,_ she cursed again and watched the pilot walk off. It was a solemn stroll, to be sure, but, for some reason, Eclipse’s legs refused to chase after him. What did he expect? Or, maybe, that was the problem.

He was expecting too much of their team.

A sudden beeping sound rang in her ear, scaring her as well as indicating the Stealth’s upgrades were finished and moving towards the final stages. The redhead sighed, debating whether or not to return to the cockpit and finish up her adjustments. There weren’t many left and she really needed to get them done, but at the expense of Nicol’s kindheartedness? She felt like she owed him an apology, but just as she was battling loss, Nicol seemed to be battling his own demons.

Maybe it would be better if they opened up a little more, she realized.

But it wasn’t that easy.

Her ear bud beeped again—and even three more times in a row just to make a point—but she just drowned it out and replied. “Coffee Addict, cancel sequence. I’ll be back later to re-initiate, but for now be on standby.”

“Stealth acknowledges. Switching to standby,” her suit replied, cutting the connection and allowing the redhead to issue a small sigh of relief. No matter what Lathan had written in his note, this machine obeying her every command was still iffy by her standards. Not to mention talking to herself looked a tad insane on her part as well. 

Pushing aside her inner turmoil, Eclipse gave a small smile and ran out the hangar door. “Nicol—“ she started but stopped short, nearly running over another redcoat. “A-Athrun?” Eclipse stammered, backing away a few steps as he did the same. 

“Nice to see you too,” he said, clearing his throat in a desperate attempt to push away the awkwardness between them. Her staring at him wide-eyed didn’t help matters. “If you’re looking for Nicol, he just took the jeep back to our quarters. He looked kind of upset. Did you two fight?”

She sighed and shook her head, regaining her composure. “Just a disagreement, and nothing to be terribly concerned about,” she replied, trying to sound casual, but not being able to look him in the eye didn’t help matters. “So, what are you doing around here?”

“Curious about your suit, to be honest and a bit restless myself.”

She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. “Sounds like everyone’s been wanting to see it. There’s nothing special about the thing. It has a head, body, appendages, a few shiny weapons, and a comfortable enough cockpit. See? Boring.”

He shrugged. “We’ll have to learn the schematics sooner or later anyway to know what to expect.”

She sighed and threw her hands out to the side. There was really no point in arguing. She looked out over his shoulder for a second longer to try and find Nicol, but even that was a lost cause. Jerking her head back into the hangar, she led the way. No doubt Athrun had noticed her limp, but he chose not to say anything. Good choice.

He stopped in front of the machine at a comfortable angle to see it all in one go as Eclipse walked over to one of the consoles and grabbed the clipboard there, holding it out to Athrun as she returned. “This is the Stealth.”

He thanked her for the clipboard and flipped through the pages as she moved to stand next to him. “I heard about Banadiya.”

Eclipse sighed loudly, the frustration in her voice coming out in an audible _humpf_. “Sounds like _everyone’s_ heard about Banadiya,” she growled, crossing her arms. “Before you ask, no, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Wasn’t gonna ask, to be fair.” He turned to the next page and looked up at the Stealth. “Though I’m sorry to hear how it ended.”

She attempted to thank him for the remark, but ended up just acknowledging it instead, a slight nod of the head to accent her appreciation. They were in a war; loss was commonplace. She was just mostly thankful Athrun had prodded the way Nicol had earlier.

“He’s gotten better, you know,” she said absently, changing the subject abruptly with her words. She felt him turn to her, but she stared up at the Stealth. “Twice—I should’ve killed him twice. The first time I chickened out and got cocky. I should’ve self-destructed, but I didn’t think of it until it was too late.”

“Self-destructed?” he asked, the surprise evident in his voice. Had that never been an option for him before? She turned to him then, the question clearly painted on her face. “It’s a viable tactic, you know. Comes at a great risk, of course, but so does not doing it.” There was weight to that last comment and she felt her voice crack at the end. She looked away after the rare moment of emotion and cleared her throat before continuing. “The second time he was just… better. I can’t tell if he’s either gotten used to that suit, found a purpose, or is just a better fighter in Earth’s gravity, but he’s dangerous.”

Athrun sighed then, the clipboard falling to his side as his arms dropped. They stood for a few moments, staring up at the Stealth. Eclipse wasn’t sure what her fellow redcoat was thinking and given the tense silence, she thought he might actually say something or admit something to her. Instead, he said nothing, so Eclipse did.

“I’m gonna kill him, Athrun.”

She turned her head, looking at him. He seemed neutral about the statement, which actually surprised her. Perhaps it was because he now knew the schematics of her suit, or he knew the full weight of what she had experienced in Banadiya. Either way, her determination was clear and he sighed, breaking the look and handing her the clipboard.

“I know,” he said quietly, looking up at the Stealth. “I know.”

* * *

“Hey, Lunar Eclipse!” a mechanic yelled from the hanger floor. It had been another day since Eclipse had had her run-ins with Nicol and Athrun and the Stealth was almost ready to go. Interruptions like this were making the process run more slowly, however, and her face as she stuck her head out of the cockpit displayed as much. “The Le Creuset Team’s wanted in Briefing Room Number 2 on the south end of the complex for a team meeting.”

“Got it, thanks,” she called back, waving an arm. This was their first meeting as a team since everyone had arrived at Gibraltar. The redcoats had been running into each other throughout the past couple of days, but this was the first formal briefing, which probably meant they had new orders. Stopping her newest adjustments, she climbed out of the cockpit and down to the hangar floor before heading to the gathering. Her limp was almost non-existent by that point, which was both a blessing and surprising. Still, she wasn’t about to be unthankful for the quick recovery and flagged down a jeep as she exited the hangar in hopes of getting a quick lift to the other side of the port.

Taking about five minutes by jeep, Eclipse was the third one to the room. Looking much like a classroom—two columns of tables and chairs with a holographic picture of earth on the white board—the place gave the redhead the feeling they were back at school or at least the academy. Dearka sat comfortably at the first table on the right, leaning back into his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. She nodded a greeting to him and he returned the gesture though his mood was sour. Either he was bored or angry, but then again he could just be tired seeing as he was supposed to be keeping Yzak from killing Athrun. 

“Please, sir, listen, I can get him; I know it!” Speaking of Yzak, the pilot was standing in front of Commander Le Creuset, with an urgent—even angry—look on his face. While they hadn’t been arguing when Eclipse walked in, there was definitely some tension in the room. She felt foolish for not noticing it before. She took the chair and table to the left side of the room, the second one back. Crossing her arms in much the same way, the redhead watched the scene unfold.

“Yzak, calm down,” Le Creuset ordered, resting his hand lightly on the desk in front of him. “You’re acting far too emotional.” Eclipse would have laughed at how true the statement was if someone else was willing to make the first move. Not only would the commander be angry, but Yzak would have a perfectly good reason to throw her out of the second story window. However, the Duel pilot’s face was priceless.

A mixture between shock and depression, the only words he could say were an echo of Le Creuset’s. “Too emotional?” 

He had no idea.

“Eh, excuse me,” Athrun muttered from the other side of the door. There was evident hesitation in his voice and judging by how loud Yzak was yelling a moment before, his uncertainty was well placed. Watching the door slide open, Eclipse locked eyes with Nicol and she brightened slightly. She still had the desire to apologize to him for the day before even if she wasn’t entirely sure why she held that sentiment. Perhaps she just didn’t want for him to be upset. 

“Ah Athrun, Nicol, good. We’re all here, it seems,” the commander began, offering them seats, and they all took to different areas of the room, Yzak took the seat in front of Eclipse, Dearka still to their left, Nicol to the table behind her—they shared a nod in greeting which made her feel better—and Athrun to the table behind Dearka.

“The Earth Forces ‘Legged Ship’ must be stopped from getting to Alaska with the data it’s acquired,” the commander began. “However, I’m afraid this mission has already been assigned to the Carpentaria base.”

“But, commander, that’s _our_ job!” Yzak interrupted, his “emotional” side peeking through once more. She debated kicking the back of his chair. “This is unfinished business for us!”

“I feel the same way, commander,” Dearka announced as he pushed himself to his feet. The chair screeched behind him, grinding on the tiled floor in one sickening movement. 

“Dearka?” Nicol blinked, the outburst having more effect on him than it did the others. Or maybe his sensitive ears didn’t like the blond’s sudden movements.

“Yeah, well, I’ve also been humiliated by those guys,” Dearka responded. He met Nicol’s eyes for a split second before reverting downward.

The look wasn’t lost on Eclipse, in fact she had her own share of pent up anger. Humiliated by the _Archangel_? Is that the word they were using? _We all want to see it go down,_ she thought, taking a second to glance at Nicol and Athrun. She tried to read what they were thinking, but failed and turned away when Le Creuset started talking again. 

“Needless to say, I feel the same,” the commander continued. “I have to prepare for ‘Operation SpitBreak,’ so I must remain here. But if you feel that strongly about it, why don’t you try yourselves?”

That got their attention.

“Yes, sir!” Yzak replied immediately, straightened his slumped shoulders with a small grin on his lips. Even Dearka looked pleased.

“Then we’ll form a team consisting of Dearka, Yzak, Lunar Eclipse, Athrun, and Nicol. And your commander will be—let me see.” He paused, scanning each individual briefly. When his eyes passed over Eclipse, she just looked away. She doubted he even considered her and, frankly, she didn’t want it. No, she was better at taking orders. “Athrun, I’m putting you in charge.” No one said anything right away, but their faces said it all. Athrun was shocked, Nicol seemed vaguely pleased, Dearka was indifferent, and Yzak was pissed. His face contorting into something shy of the devil, he glared at the Aegis pilot, but the “pretty boy” didn’t seem to notice. 

Lucky him. 

“I’ll have you assigned to a submarine carrier in Carpentaria,” Le Creuset continued as if the decision was elementary. Perhaps it was. “You should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.”

“M-me, commander?” Athrun stuttered, overwhelmed by it all. Since when did he have the ability to hold such a position?

Le Creuset smiled and walked over to the pilot, setting a comforting, but firm hand on his shoulder. “That ship has been a real thorn in our side, it will not be easy, Athrun.” After that, he opened the door, leaving the newly formed team to boil over its assignment.

And boil they would.

“So, now we’re the Zala Team? Hah, this should be good,” Dearka mocked, slumping back down into his chair and throwing his arms up in surrender. Yzak decided to say nothing—or he couldn’t talk—and kept up his award-winning scowl. The phrase, “Your face will end up staying that way,” came to Eclipse’s mind, but she too kept quiet. After all, she didn’t want to make the situation even worse and the look on Athrun’s face reminded her he would be the one getting the first blow.

The redhead watched him a bit longer, curious to know what was churning through his mind. He had at least three pilots on his team who wanted nothing more than to see the _Archangel_ burn and based on his hesitation, Eclipse knew Athrun was still dealing with whatever internal battle was raging about that kid named Kira.

 _I wonder if he’s opened up to Nicol about it,_ the redhead thought, waiting for the others to leave the room before she finally exited. Maybe Nicol and her would have that chat sometime soon, she figured. But first, she owed a message to her fellow Berserker. Her lips scowled at the thought, beginning her trek back to the Stealth. _It’s about time Namarra got a message from “Bob.”_

* * *

“It took you this long to contact me?” Namarra asked, sitting on the wrought iron park bench, legs crossed, and her head propped upright by her hand on the armrest. It was later in the evening that same day, and the girls decided to meet up in a secluded park just outside the big city near Gibraltar. Maybe not the most ideal place to hold a conversation of their caliber, but, for now, it was good enough. However, the Natural’s stance was upsetting to the redhead. 

For as pissed as Eclipse was, Namarra looked way too comfortable. 

“You’re pretty hard to reach,” the redhead replied through clenched teeth. She stood across from the Natural, trying to pull off a cocky stance of her own, but only managing hands on her hips and a lean to her left side. “What have you heard of SIN-ED?”

“Can’t do the research yourself? Getting lazy are we?”

“Don’t push it,” Eclipse threatened. “I’ve had way too much going on for me to worry about them at the moment. The only thing I _do_ know is they raided a ZAFT warehouse a few days ago.”

“Try six days ago and they have knocked over two other facilities since then.”

“Do you know what they’re after?”

Namarra sighed, scratching the back of her head as if in thought. “Mostly data and some spare parts; nothing powerful enough to scare the natives. If I wasn’t so sure it was SIN-ED, I’d just ignore the situation altogether.”

“What do you think they’re up to?”

“Actually, I was hoping you’d be able to answer that question. I don’t know how their minds work like you do, but if we don’t have any other option, looks like we’re just gonna have to ask them personally.”

“Some great assassins we are. We don’t even know what our prey’s up to let alone where they are right now,” Eclipse grumbled.

“Not knowing what they’re up to is half the fun, but if we really wanted to, we could figure out where they’re hiding out.”

Eclipse just smirked, matching the Natural’s look to almost mirror image. She had a point. After all, most people in their position would just massacre and write up a questionnaire afterwards, never realizing their prisoner was—well—dead. At least these two Berserkers were going to kill them _while_ asking questions. 

“Oh,” Namarra began a moment later, kicking her right leg up over her left and setting it on the ground, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about your last battle.” The redhead felt her body go still, waiting to see how far the Natural was willing to take the conversation. After all, Eclipse had been itching for an “anger release” ever since Banadiya. “You did go berserk, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I’ve been hearing sweet whispers about a fair redhead stabbing some well-known physician. ‘Eyes straight from the ice age and rage as fierce as hell,’ one report read. Do you deny it?”

“I snapped afterwards. Our little deal killed two good friends of mine, so the anger seemed justified.”

“Oh, so people did get killed and you blame yourself, I see. Figures,” Namarra said nonchalant, offering a shrug. “This is a war and you were in the position to choose who lived and who died. You chose your SIN-ED friends; I’m not surprised.”

“What?” Eclipse was on her toes by this time, fists clenched painfully at her sides.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out yet. That deal offered you a chance to see who—or what—you cared about more. If you went berserk, I’d kill Gluttony and his friend; if you didn’t, your new friends would die. I must admit, though, your decision saddens me. Either you have a lot of faith in SIN-ED or you just hate humanity that much. After all, your ZAFT buddies aren’t trying to destroy the human race.”

That stung.

Sure, she had a point, but there was this little thing called “tact” in the universe. Eclipse scowled. How _dare_ that Natural assume she chose one human being—one life—over another, especially when it concerned her closest comrades. “So, you’re saying I had to make a choice?”

“Yup, and you chose poorly, I might add. Tell me, what made you think you had the right to be so bold as to let some good soldiers die in order to allow some crazed lunatics walk all over us? Do you think you’re—” Namarra never finished; an enraged redhead slamming a fist into a person’s cheek could have such an effect. The Natural crumpled over the armrest, catching herself before she could fly headlong onto the ground. Ribs scraping against the metal through a cotton T-shirt, she merely laughed.

“What the hell gives _you_ the right to judge _me_?” Eclipse spat.

Namarra continued with her amusement, spitting out some blood from a cut cheek. The metallic taste rested on her tongue for a few seconds, causing another wad of saliva to go crashing to the ground. Scraping a forearm across her mouth she smirked, admiring the stinging bite near corner of her bottom lip. “Nice punch.”

“I will _not_ have you place all the blame on me.”

“Whatever, you feel guilty and we _both_ know it. And stop trying to play the wounded hero,” the black-haired girl began, forcing her body to sit upright once more. “Not only does it curse your image, but I laugh at it too. You, a hero?”

“Fuck you!” Eclipse hissed, this time sending both them and the bench to the ground after one forceful tackle. Landing in a muffled _thump_ , each sprouted their own, interesting combinations of curses. An onlooker might have been embarrassed—or even offended—for them, but thank goodness time was on the Berserkers’ side. 

Eclipse ended up on top, her knees straddling Namarra’s still sitting form awkwardly near her biceps. Her shins were hot with pain as the backrest dug into her legs; however, she was at the point where nothing else mattered, not even her “interesting” positioning. Plopped on her opponent’s stomach, her knees had the Natural pinned enough that she couldn’t get her arms up for a defense. Eclipse wound up and swung again, connecting soundly with Namarra’s right cheek bone.

“Get off me!” Namarra screeched, more than pissed about her predicament. An attempt at a headbutt accented the order, but Eclipse’s hold was too good. “I said move!” Tucking in her knees, the black-haired girl rocked backwards, kneeing Eclipse hard in the back. It gave Namarra enough slack to loosen her right arm and wind up for a punch to the stomach. Breathless, the redhead buckled, but didn’t bail off the Natural. Only one, strong right jab was able to send her falling off to the left.

The redhead’s right shoulder nicked the far armrest as she turned, causing a small yelp to escape her lips, but she didn’t have long to worry about that pain when her face hit the cool grass. “S-shit,” she coughed, not enjoying the new bruises and how they worked so well with her old ones. The side of her left hand throbbed from trying to catch herself—her leg gash seemed to have reopened—and now she had a tender set of abs and a throbbing cheekbone to worry about. Honestly, the only person she could blame was herself. 

However, she would never say she didn’t enjoy the adrenaline rush.

“You have some nerve,” Namarra breathed somewhere to her right. 

“ _I_ have some nerve?”

“Here I am just minding my own business—”

“Minding your own business? Hah! There’s a good one.” Eclipse laughed, rolling onto her side and facing the Natural. Namarra was still on the bench, but looked terribly uncomfortable. Seeing the top of the backrest positioned near her middle back, the redhead figured it had dug in well enough to cause an interesting bruise. Either that or some vertebra cracked when they weren’t supposed to. 

“It’s not my fault you’re dumb.”

“But it _is_ your fault we’re laying here writhing in pain.”

“I’m not writhing.”

“Then move.”

The Natural paused, cringed a bit, but in the end stayed put. “I don’t want to,” she muttered. “And it’s _not_ my fault. You just have to stop thinking with your hormones and use your brain—hey! Would you let me finish a sentence for once?” she yelped, wiping a fair amount of dirt off her face and out of her eyes. 

Eclipse had pretty good aim even from lying down.

Grabbing another handful, the redhead tossed more grass and soil Namarra’s way. This time, however, the black-haired girl retaliated, raining her own share of earth down upon her opponent. In all definitions of the word, it was pathetic. Two, highly trained assassins had regressed to using dirt instead of grenades and blades of grass instead of throwing knives. Childish was another word—and immature was up there on the list as well—but neither was in the mood to get up and find such weapons. When in doubt, use what was at hand.

Who knew they would take it so literally?

“Uh-huh, not sure what to make of this.”

The two girls stopped mid-throw and looked towards the new voice, pure instinct kicking in the second neither recognized it. Namarra did a backwards summersault, landing on her feet, but remained crouched down, reaching inside her boot to grab the dagger hidden there. Apparently, she was armed; just not something she wanted to use on Eclipse. The redhead did much the same thing, flipping backwards and reaching inside her own boot for the same kind of weapon. 

Ironic.

“Now, that’s just unnerving,” the man muttered, issuing a yawn after his fair, tenor-ranged voice chuckled at the sight. “But the question is, what to do with you two now? Who knew a lazy nap would create such an opportunity?”

The girls shared a glance, but they knew they were stuck. Sure, it may have been just one man, but the two 9mms pointed at their foreheads gave them a slight disadvantage. After all, Sloth was known to have flawless aim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thanks for stopping by! I hope you liked this chapter and the introduction of our newest coffee addict. ;) 
> 
> Nicol and Athrun return to the team and I changed Eclipse's interactions between these two draaaastically. I think there's one more chapter after this one (a couple down the line) where I still go ridiculously emotional Eclipse that I'm going to change because it just... keeps me up at night (shivers). As soon as I go through that one, most of the chapters will be up to date with my writing style/characterization, I think. I hope... I'm roughly halfway through the story, actually, if anyone was curious.
> 
> One thing I really with AO3 had was a scheduling feature... I wouldn't mind putting up drafts and then having them come out the date I specify instead of having to manually do it myself... Oh well. 
> 
> Oh, sorry for the cliffhanger, I think. ;) I'm not a very nice author to my readers or my characters, it seems. 
> 
> See you all next chapter and thanks again for stopping by.
> 
> Strata


	31. Assassins, Sins, and Druggies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get to meet Namarra's teammates and Athrun's first bit of paperwork as commanding officer.

** Assassins, Sins, and Druggies **

“Gluttony, how in the hell could you lose Sloth?” Wrath yelled from the front seat, twisting briefly to glance at the chef behind him. He wiped a nervous palm on his jeans as he grabbed the flap on his jacket to keep it from flapping in the wind.

“It’s Jaeger when we’re in public, _Logan,_ ” Stray hissed, secretly kicking his own ass for letting the lazy Sin fall behind. The codenames were just something latched figuratively onto the SIN-ED board members, who knew some people took them seriously? Given, “Gluttony” was the perfect choice for this particular silver-haired boy, but some individuals needed to think before they decided to be the bane of humanity. _C’mon, taking a catnap in a tree? And on a mission? Alright, we shouldn’t have left him, but—honestly—that’s ridiculous._ Sighing, Stray did much the same as Wrath and wiped both hands nervously against his jeans before zipping up his own sweatshirt against the cool wind. “You’re at as much fault as me.”

“He probably just wanted to see this famous Lexi Rymyr all by himself. Y’know, waited until we left then jumped down and started exploring. You shouldn’t have let slip LE’s transfer,” Wrath whined, shifting uncomfortably in the driver’s seat of the convertible. Stray had no idea where his teammate had gotten such a fancy vehicle, but he wasn’t about to complain. Honestly, he just wanted to drive the thing. Too bad the hotheaded Logan would never let him no matter how hard he pestered him. Besides, they were both worried about their missing comrade. The Sins rarely traveled alone—since Greed’s mishap in space—and with two assassins running around, SIN-ED just couldn’t afford any more messy mishaps.

Which is probably what would end up happening.

 _Damnit!_ Wrath thought, forgetting his whiny mood and skipping right back to anger. _Where is that son of a bitch?_ Stepping on the gas, he blew through a red light and made a quick right at the next intersection. Stray squealed in the backseat—more out of excitement than sheer fright—and grabbed onto Wrath’s headrest in order to keep him from flying out of the car. If only he had buckled his seatbelt. 

“Woah, Logan, relax!”

“He couldn’t have gotten far, and I’m not about to calm down until his bony ass is strapped to the passenger’s seat. What the hell is he thinking?” Making another sharp turn to the left, he narrowly missed a crossing squirrel—well, and a handful of innocent bystanders.

 _Aw, shucks,_ Stray thought, watching the animal scurry up the nearest tree and out of harm’s way. _I’ve always wanted to try roadkill._

* * *

“Well, look what we have here. Who knew someone so lost could end up being so lucky?”

“I’m thinking you’re the lost one, but how the hell do you see that as lucky?” Namarra asked, slipping her fingers further into the back of her boot and grabbing hold of her throwing knife. “As a regular pedestrian in this park, I really don’t appreciate a gun pointed at me.”

“A ‘regular pedestrian?’ Hah, don’t make me laugh,” Sloth chided, lifting one gun up to glance at a cuticle. It was a cocky gesture to be sure, and one that pissed off the girls a few feet from his position. Why was it when a person had full control of a situation, he or she had a tendency to flaunt it? 

Ah, egos.

“I know who you are,” the Sin pointed Eclipse’s way once his inspection was over, “so that means you must be the other one.”

“‘Other one?’” Namarra girl echoed. Glancing sidelong at her Coordinator counterpart, Namarra was happy to see a return look. It was subtle—more of an eye roll than actual contact—but it seemed to mean a lot more to the Natural than to Sloth standing casually across from them. Perhaps if he was paying attention, he may have noticed it as well. _So, Eclipse is armed—or at least not helpless. That’s good to know ‘cause I really don’t like this situation at the moment._

“You’re not very bright, are you?” the Sin continued. “We know there’s two of you after us, Lunar Eclipse and someone else. That’s Lunar Eclipse so you must be the ‘someone else,’ especially since you haven’t totally freaked out yet.”

“I’m sure Eclipse here has plenty of friends who don’t ‘freak out’ when there’s a gun pointed his or her way.”

“You being one of those friends?”

“Precisely,” Namarra replied, wondering why the redhead hadn’t bothered to make a move, verbal or otherwise. Either the girl was biding her time or she just had no idea what to do. Her combat record suggested the former, but her personal record was leaning towards the latter.

How the Natural hoped she knew what she was doing.

“While that is tempting to believe, your little fight earlier proved my assumptions. You, my dear, are, in fact, the other assassin,” Sloth cooed, taking a step—more like a strut—towards the two. One gun he began twirling absently, slipping his finger in the crook near the trigger and spinning it near his forehead. If the gun happened to go off, there would be a messy crime scene for the local authorities to investigate, but knowing the level of ability the Sins had, neither girl was about to bet on that happening. So, they just stared and planned, looking for ins and outs of the situation. They had at least one throwing knife each. Not much of a comfort when the enemy had two guns, but it was better than fists and feet. He was cocky—that was obvious—but skilled, so even if he missed the first shot, he wouldn’t miss the second.

Damn.

“Hah, how does it feel to be in our position for once? Well, we have more guts at least; we don’t just sit back and snipe you guys in the back of the head. But wait,” he paused, catching his twirling gun and bringing it to his lips. Tapping it lightly on his chin, he smiled and nodded. “A shot to the head would be _very_ entertaining.”

“You won’t do it,” Eclipse spat, finally getting into the conversation. “I know FS has ordered you not to.”

"Hm? Now isn’t that cute. You’re assuming I listen to everything he says? We have no _one_ leader, y’know, and even if Pride sets up most of our operations, it’s mainly because no one else wants to. I can put on a pretty face when he’s around, but right now I could shoot you and merely say it was self-defense. After all, you two are notorious for making the first move.” 

First move or no, fate—or even luck in this case—had a tendency to mix things up. Yes, both Namarra and Eclipse were about to do something drastic in order to save their asses, but two unfortunate bystanders happened to walk by. It was the most cliché thing that could’ve happened and even though the redhead was in the middle of it, she still didn’t believe it. 

They were an elderly couple, and even though they didn’t notice the trio at first, the second Sloth leveled his guns back at the girls, the woman screamed. 

Some might call that perfect timing.

The Sin—purely on instinct—spun and shot twice, hitting the lady in the cheekbone and the guy in his right ear. If the man hadn’t turned his head at the last second, he may have evaded the hasty fire, but his survival instincts weren’t as honed as the others. Sloth’s precise aim—obviously—wasn’t a myth and that thought alone brought on a few shivers. Before the woman had a chance to get her lover’s attention, the bullet had cracked through the cheekbone and splintered off into her brain, leaving her to twitch away her last moments and wonder how a late anniversary dinner could turn so tragic. The man—wondering much the same thing—fell on top of her when the bullet passed, literally, through one ear and out the other. His mouth open in a dying scream, his head rested awkwardly against his wife’s shoulder.

Or at least what was left of it.

It was a sickening sight to see a late prom king and queen fall headlong into a pool of their own blood and brain matter, but the two girls had to take advantage of the massacre or they, too, would lose a valuable appendage. Eclipse reacted first, drawing her throwing knife and lunging forward and to the left. The move put about 10 feet between the Sin and redhead, a decent enough distance for an accurate kill. Pulling her arm in close, Eclipse waited until she had her footing before sending the knife chest high towards Sloth. The redhead’s aim was perfect—not even Namarra would contradict that—but the Sin proved to have the quicker reflexes. 

Relying on instinct once again, Sloth dropped into a forward roll, bridging the gap between him and Eclipse while escaping death at the same time. The knife sailed over his head, landing with a soft “thump” in a pile of loose dirt, most likely left over from the mud slinging escapade the girls had participated in a while earlier. Losing a firm grip on the gun in his left hand, the Sin flipped it around, grasping the barrel and bringing the handle across in an attempt to connect with the redhead’s temple. 

Not a bad plan, but Eclipse had had too much time to see it coming. Ducking into a sidelong roll to her right, she managed to evade the first strike, but not the second karate chop. Sloth—despite his codename—was quick and used the momentum of his first attack to do a follow up with his other hand. The tip of the barrel pointed down, the boy stabbed, only grazing Eclipse’s back as she tumbled by, but still left a fair-sized scrape as a present. 

The gun dug into the earth, burying itself up to the trigger. Sloth managed an interesting array of curses and even more when he accidentally fired the weapon in an attempt to pull it out. “Damn it all!”

“Yeah, something like that,” Namarra mocked, having gotten behind the Sin and tackled him away from the gun. They both rolled on the ground for a few feet, each trying to gain the advantage as well as keep the weaponry away from anything vital. Namarra had a bit harder of a time trying to keep the last gun from firing in her direction. It managed some shots as the wrestling continued and even the Natural’s knife nicked Sloth a few times. Nothing major, but at least she was getting some kind of attack in, given the difference in strength. The Sin may have looked like a little twig, but he could sure hold his own.

Not a pleasant revelation.

“Hm, feisty are we?” Sloth teased when they finally stopped rolling around. Straddling his waist, Namarra looked defeated despite her advantage. Hair falling in knotted clumps around her face, a small gash extended across her left cheekbone, proving the boy’s shots weren’t going as wide as she originally anticipated. Her left hand pinning Sloth’s wrist to the ground—the one still holding the gun—the Natural’s knife hand was being held up by the Sin’s free one. 

Panting, Namarra spat on his forehead. “Keep your brain in _that_ head, asshole,” she breathed, slowly losing her strength from trying to struggle against Sloth’s grip. _Damnit. We really shouldn’t have had that catfight, Eclipse._

“You’re going to give in here pretty quick; all I have to do is wait.”

“You’re forgetting there’s two of us,” Eclipse muttered off to Namarra’s right. Somehow, she managed to free the buried gun while the other two were wrestling, aiming the barrel down at the sliding saliva on the Sin’s forehead. “You’re one egotistical bastard to think you could just waltz up to us and figure a shot to the head would finish us off. We’re not as weak as you first anticipated.”

“The barrel’s plugged, dumbass.” Twisting, Sloth put all his remaining strength into his right arm and pushed Namarra over to his left. However, such a move didn’t come without consequences. Having focused everything onto his gun hand, the Natural won on the other side and drove the knife downward into his side before getting tackled to the ground. 

Since the Sin had obviously planned ahead—Eclipse too, for that matter, having already unclogged the gun—the redhead was forced to keep her hand steady on the trigger instead of firing, seeing as the bullet would’ve passed directly through Namarra instead of Sloth. When he turned, he pulled the Natural’s body in front of his, shielding him from Eclipse’s shot and giving him time to draw his gun at the same time. Now straddling Namarra—his left leg digging into the Natural’s stomach—he aimed and fired point blank at the redhead. 

Or at least where she was.

The tackling had taken longer than Sloth thought and by the time he realized his folly, Namarra had grabbed the knife in his side and pulled upward. Thanks to an obsessive sharpening schedule, the blade cut smoothly up his flesh, sliding through muscle and fat alike in a hushed, scrapping sound; almost like too much butter being layered on toast. The blade went straight through his lowermost rib, but got stuck on the one right above it, forcing a scream to escape his lips as the Natural tried two times to jerk it through the bone. A third time proved futile when the amount of blood on her hands caused the blade to slip through her fingers, sending the Sin tumbling to the ground at the same time. 

The girls watched him fall, offering a silent thank you when he didn’t get back up. Judging by the growing pool of blood under the wounded side, he wouldn’t be up for a while. “What the hell was that?” Eclipse breathed, helping pull Namarra away from Sloth. She tumbled off to the side, still on her knees. “One Sin against two Berserkers and he almost won? Then again, neither of us snapped—” Eclipse stopped, staring down into Namarra’s Berserker eyes and realizing her folly.

Eclipse was the cool head that time.

_Bang._

_Bang._

Scream.

Eclipse froze again. The first shot came from Namarra kneeling down in front of her. When the Berserker grabbed the gun, Eclipse wasn’t sure, but having her aim and fire through the small gap between the redhead’s body and arm made even Eclipse fear Berserkers. What—or who—she shot at managed the second shot—a counterattack.

Or at least his partner did.

“Logan, you all right?”

“Yeah, Gluttony, just a graze. You assassins are growing soft. Aiming for the foot?”

After motioning Wrath to Sloth’s prone figure, he saw him rush over to their comrade and pull off his jacket. Stray took a quick look around. His eyes passed the dead couple a few yards away to land on the two relatively living ones in front of him. Eclipse had crouched down in front of Namarra, both hands at her sides and her fingers arched on the grass. She was looking at him dangerously, but Stray was staring behind them at Wrath and Sloth. Perhaps Stray hadn’t registered what had really happened, or even whom he shot. Not surprising considering his instincts. His bullet had grazed the inside of Eclipse’s right knee and went straight into Namarra’s right calf. The Natural’s pupils had returned, the gun still in her hand and aiming it at Stray. She bit down on her bottom lip as the pain began numbing her lower leg and cursed.

They stayed in their positions for another breath, Namarra on the ground with her gun pointing around Lexi’s back at Stray and Eclipse crouched in front of her, the redhead’s eyes darting between Wrath, her old friend, and the knife 10 feet away.

“Lexi?” Stray asked, the tone in his voice surprising her. It was as if he had just registered what had happened. Had he done all of that on instinct? “Lexi!” he squealed then, breaking the showdown with Namarra and rushing towards them. Namarra fired once, but missed and Stray got in close enough to knock the gun from Namarra’s hand and grab Eclipse’s shirt to pull her away from the Natural. She fell to the ground hard, his left hand bracing his crouching self near her as his right hand aimed his gun at Namarra again who held up her hands in surrender.

“Stray,” Eclipse breathed. “You shouldn’t be—”

“Are you hurt?” he cut in, taking his eye off Namarra to look her over. His gaze caught sight of the open gash on her leg and he jumped to his feet. “Y-you are!”

“Of course she’s hurt, dimwit.” The phrase must have sounded better in Namarra’s head because as soon as she spit it out, she had to bite her tongue. However, Stray didn’t even turn to acknowledge her, too concerned about Eclipse’s “new” injury. He was looking around, but for what Namarra wasn’t sure. Eclipse was still on the ground, slowly moving into a sitting position and her face a mixture of horror and worry.

“Gluttony, what the _hell_ are you doing?” Wrath hissed. “Leave it be for now! She’ll be easier to apprehend this way.” He was holding his jacket over Sloth’s wounded side. The bleeding had slowed somewhat, but the cut was still serious. Hopefully—for his own sake—Sloth had learned his lesson and knew the next time a knife was stuck in his side he should just pull it out right away instead of waiting for some pissed females to do it for him. 

“No, we’re just taking the black-haired one. Revelin and I decided a long time ago we will never take Lexi by force, no matter what the circumstances are.”

“You’re insane,” Wrath breathed, not able to comprehend what Stray was muttering about. Letting Eclipse just go? “We have her; this is our chance—”

"To what, _make_ her do what we want?” The gun traversed from Namarra to Wrath, surprising everyone. “No, I don’t work like that and since I outrank you, you’ll do as I say and leave her alone. Take Trevor back to the car now, Logan, and I better not hear you complain.” The threat was genuine—not even Wrath was that oblivious. So, even though Wrath may not have agreed with everything going on, he wasn’t about to get killed over it. He cursed and flicked his head over at Namarra.

“What about the other chick? There’s no way we’re letting them _both_ go.”

“As I said before, we’re only taking her.” The gun’s aim returned to Namarra and she tensed. “But I’ll watch them until you get back. Make sure Trevor’s comfortable, bring the car around, and then we’ll worry about how to handle the girls.”

Wrath stared hard at his partner, debating whether or not he should actually follow Stray’s orders. Yes, the chef was ranked higher than he was but what he was saying was on the verge of insanity—that he was sure. This was their chance to get rid of their greatest competition. If these two girls were out of the picture, they could really do whatever they wanted because, after all, they were the only ones stopping them at every turn. “Gluttony, I really don’t think—”

“Logan, now.” No choice that time. Offering one more, quick glance at Eclipse and Namarra, he gathered up Sloth and walked out of sight. “Now, for you two—”

“You’re an idiot,” the Natural spat, cutting off Stray with a burning glare of her own. “You have the perfect opportunity to take us both and you’re just going to let Eclipse leave? Neither of us have the energy—or working appendages for that matter—to put up a decent fight.”

“I already gave my reasoning, and don’t feel the need to explain it again to you, girl. Now,” he began, standing and walking over to grab the gun he had knocked out of Namarra’s hand. It was lying in the grass a ways away from them. “Lexi, you stand over there and don’t move. I really don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m not leaving her,” Eclipse stated, taking the opportunity to scramble across the grass and put herself between Namarra and Stray’s gun. “I _refuse_ to leave her here.”

“But you’re not leaving her; I’m taking her.”

“I refuse to leave her with _you_ , Stray.” Now the chef was hurt, the instant watering of eyes and quivering lips making him look on the verge of tears. Quite impressive if he was trying to win some contest, but since Eclipse was of the stubborn sort, she just stared at her old friend, even if the barrel of a gun was blocking her view. “You know I mean it.”

“Yes, but you have to know I’m taking her no matter what.”

“Why? What good would capturing her do?” Eclipse asked.

“It’d make you come back to us.”

Namarra watched the whole ordeal from the ground, neither liking the view nor how they were talking about her as if she was some item on the black market. Sure, she could barely move at the moment, but she could at least talk. “I’d appreciate it if—”

“Why do you think I’d come back?” Eclipse interrupted.

“Whether it was to rescue her, or team up with her, you’d have to come and see us, then we could talk at least. I know you’re still thinking about joining us. Just by looking at you now I can tell they don’t accept you back there.”

“Whether they accept me or not is none of your business.”

“But it _is_ my business. Lexi, I care about you—a lot—and, for some reason, that doesn’t mean anything to you anymore. What happened to our trio?”

“It died the moment I knew you planned on destroying humanity. Did you honestly think I’d agree with that?” The words fell out of her mouth before she had the chance to take them back. Perhaps her subconscious had made up her mind for her, either that or the guilt of choosing them over Waltfeld and Aisha had been too much. Namarra had been right.

She had chosen the wrong side.

Stray sighed and lowered the gun, shaking his head at the same time. “Perhaps you shouldn’t pin everything on us. _You_ weren’t there to change our minds, remember?”

“What? Are you kidding, placing all the blame on me? You can—”

Interruptions seemed to be a common occurrence when it came to conversations between Eclipse and her friends, this time being no different. Wrath pulled a risky move and tried a little off-roading experiment, driving the car up the park sidewalk and onto the grass next to Stray. Sprawling out, the Sin pushed open the passenger door. “Gluttony, trouble. Cops are coming. I’m thinking someone heard all the excitement and got anxious. We can’t stay here so hop in.”

“I’ll grab the girl,” Stray said, turning back to his captives, but only saw the tail end of Eclipse as she and Namarra made a break for it. The chef instinctively fired at where they were supposed to be and received a flying knife as a reward. _Damnit, Lexi._

“Gluttony, now!” Wrath yelled, taking a quick glance at Sloth in the back seat. He was stable—for now—with the seat belt providing enough compression on his wounded side to maybe save his life. But all that work on Wrath’s part to get the belt just right would be for nothing if Stray didn’t get in the car. Sure, the chef could take care of himself, but if Wrath had to be the one talking to FS about Stray’s disappearance, he’d have a mortal wound of his own. “Damnit, Gluttony!” 

After another pause, the chef bent down to grab the knife and then jumped in the car. Eclipse would join them sooner or later—he knew—but until that time, he couldn’t let her get caught by the police. Her fingerprints on that knife and the gun in his left hand would be the only evidence needed to pin her for the old timers’ murders. 

Even though breaking her out of jail would be a blast, no one could afford such a setback.

* * *

“You said your friends were going to meet us here,” Eclipse muttered, shifting her weight to the left leg. Not only was supporting Namarra beginning to get tiring, but a real pain as well. The wound on her leg hadn’t started hurting until they were about half a mile away from where they met Stray and the other Sins—she could thank adrenaline for that one—but now she felt like her calf was on fire. The Natural’s friends had said they would be there in about 10 minutes and the clock had ticked far beyond that. If only she wasn’t so stubborn, the redhead would’ve just dumped the girl on the ground and walked away, but—for some reason—Eclipse was sticking around. 

Perhaps it was because she had the unnerving feeling SIN-ED was still out looking for them.

“It’s only been 20 minutes. Wait a bit longer, would ya?” Namarra grumbled, honestly getting a bit worried herself. The duo had narrowly escaped death a few times that night and getting caught by the cops didn’t sound appealing either. _Damnit, guys..._ For a second, she forgot about her wounded calf and stood on it. Ideally, it was supposed to ease the cramp in her good leg, but all it ended up doing was shooting an uncomfortable sensation up her thigh all the way to her hip. “Damnit,” she hissed.

“Forgive me for saying this, but I have to say, it’s about time you got hurt.”

“What, you think I’m invincible?”

“Goodness, no, but I’ve never seen you with a scratch on you,” Eclipse explained. A small smile graced her lips, but when Namarra put her wounded leg down once more, they both nearly crumpled with the unexpected movement. 

“I probably get hurt just as much as you do, and seem to heal just as well too. Must have something to do with these damn genes of ours.”

“Well, that’s comforting to hear. Did you want me to bandage it?”

“Nah, I’ll look at it when I get back. Besides, I think I tied my shoelaces tight enough to cut off some circulation.” A pair of headlights rounded a corner roughly a mile down the road. Seeing as no other civilian seemed to be out that late, the vehicle could only be hosting the Natural’s friends, but still, neither assassin wanted to take a chance. They had narrowly escaped SIN-ED that time, but somehow they didn’t think they would get so lucky again. Both taking a few steps back, they edged from the side of the road to remain out of obvious sight. If a person was really looking for them, they’d be spotted, but as for a random passerby, they’d be nearly invisible. 

“Chicibo!” yelled someone from the car. Even if it didn’t reach their immediate position, the voice still carried easily down the road. Since the cops were snooping around, Eclipse physically cringed and dreaded the loud sound of a police whistle. If that happened, she would personally find Stray and hand her over. However, when nothing sounded other than another call, something else caught the redhead’s attention.

Who the hell was “Chicibo”?

“Orga!” Namarra replied, pulling the redhead towards the roadside once more. “Orga, slow down!”

The vehicle—corvette convertible to be exact—slowed to a stop as the young driver put it into park. Actually, there were three in the car. Given the time of night, it was hard to see what the individuals looked like, but based on the sudden blurting of questions, complaints, and curses, the voices were obviously guys. 

Interesting.

“Chicibo, what the _hell_ have you gotten yourself into this time?” the boy in the backseat asked. He was lying down, legs resting comfortably across from him on the side of the car with his head bent back to stare at the girls. In his hands he held a game—which one Eclipse couldn’t tell—and thanks to the light from the screen, she could make out some minor details of his physical appearance. With such a coarse voice, the redhead expected someone older, but actually who she saw looked to be a young, teenage boy. Bright, red hair brushed against his scalp, falling no further than his earlobes, but his bangs were swept aside carelessly to dangle on one side of his face. Staring upside down most likely had something to do with the style, but glancing at his visage one more time, Eclipse found the look matched him. A “boyish” face was really the only way she could think to describe him. With rounder cheeks and an oval-like shape to his head, the kid looked to be no older than twelve years old. At least until he spoke. “You got yourself hurt _again_?”

“Shut up, Clotho; it’s not like you do anything around here,” Namarra muttered, still not making a move to getting into the car. For some reason the redhead expected her to just jump in as soon as they arrived. 

Why the hesitation?

“So, Shani, you gonna move over, or what? Obviously, ‘no-life-boy’ in the back here isn’t going to let me sit down.”

“Obviously,” Clotho echoed and turned back to his game, avoiding the Natural’s glare. “There’s no room for your bleeding ass back here.”

“What was that?”

“Would you two just relax?” Orga asked, scratching the back of his head. The boy in the back sat up quickly, seemingly offended by the comment and thanks to some handheld game waving, Eclipse could catch sight of a longer face and some short, light green hair; however, the antics didn’t help with any precise details. But there was something interesting she saw.

An Earth Forces emblem.

 _Shit,_ Eclipse thought, glad she had decided to change out of her own uniform earlier. This meeting would be going even worse if she had opted to adorn her ZAFT colors. Being an elite wouldn’t have helped either.

“And you, Shani, scooch. Nam’s gotta sit down,” the driver ordered, but the teen in the passenger’s seat seemed deaf. “Hey, Shani!” Still no movement. Frustrated, Orga snatched Clotho’s video game and—while ignoring the pleas from the back seat—used the little light to pull out an ear bud from the deaf boy’s left ear. “Shani, I said scoot.”

This time he moved; the slow turn of his head proving he was, in fact, pissed off about the ordeal. Longer, pale green hair covered the right side of his face—so Eclipse didn’t get a good glance at his expression—but judging by the surprised looks on his comrades’ faces, he had to be pretty angry. Grabbing his ear bud, Shani put it back in and turned up the volume on his music player. 

“Fine then, I’ll sit in between you two,” Namarra announced, unperturbed about the situation. Perhaps she was just used to it. Finally releasing Eclipse’s shoulder, she hobbled over to the driver’s side of the car, waited for Orga to get out, slid onto the seat, and then punched Shani hard on the shoulder.

He didn’t seem to care.

“Chicibo, you gonna say goodbye to your friend?” Clotho asked, having already returned to his previous position in the back of the car. 

“Oh—yeah—I’ll see you later, Eclipse. We’ll be in touch.”

 _Dare I ask about the nickname?_ the redhead thought, but kept her mouth shut. After all, she might be able to use it to blackmail the Natural later on. “I’m sure we will be.”

“Hey, Orga,” Namarra began a moment later as the other teen slid in behind the wheel. “Can I drive?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Your leg’s injured, dumbass,” Clotho explained.

“But I can drive with my left.”

“No, and that’s final.” Namarra was about to complain again when Orga put the car in drive and stepped on the gas. 

Eclipse couldn’t help but smile as they drove away, hearing more arguing from the front seat, some interesting inputs from Clotho in the back, and the silent soldier in the passenger seat shouting a final, “Nam, shut the hell up! And give me back my earphones!” to end the dispute. 

_They seem close,_ the redhead decided, turning and walking in the opposite direction. _I wonder if FS, MR, Stray and I could’ve ever been like that. Or even me and the other guys._ Pausing, she couldn’t help but laugh, knowing the first scenario was the most likely. 

Even if one of the prime candidates she personally killed.

* * *

Eclipse’s return to the base was slow, but uneventful. At least until she made it to the gate. “Please, it’s fine, I’ll go straight to the infirmary. There’s no need to inform anyone.”

“Sorry, soldier, you know the rules. ID or no, we have to contact your superior,” the guard said, standing in front of her as his partner returned to their small hut to call onto base. She cursed and wrapped the jacket tight around her chest, keeping her weight off her right leg. It was in pain, but she couldn’t see how much it was bleeding. She hadn’t seemed to be leaving a trail as she hobbled back to base, but it had also been dark. The rest of her body throbbed and despite the pain, she denied any assistance or offer to sit.

It was another 10 minutes or so before a jeep pulled up to the gate, the lights making her cringe away and put her arm up to protect her eyes. It disorientated her for a moment, but she caught herself before falling to the side, hopping once on her left leg to reclaim her balance.

“Eclipse?” Athrun asked, stepping out from behind the wheel and walking in front of the headlights.

 _Oh yeah,_ she thought and cursed. _Athrun’s in charge now._

“Sorry to bother you, sir.” One of the guards saluted as he walked up to meet him. “It’s protocol to alert her commanding officer if it’s after curfew and in such a state—”

“I know the rules,” he said with a sigh. “Thank you for letting me know.” He saluted and turned to Eclipse. She couldn’t see his face entirely because of his angle and the shadows from the headlights, but—somehow—she doubted he was happy to see her.

She saluted as best she could, still keeping her weight off her right leg. “Sorry, sir.”

“Can you walk?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied and hobbled over to the car, offering a partial salute and thanks to the guards as she passed. Wincing, she slid into the passenger seat as Athrun did some final salutes and took his place behind the wheel. His sidelong glance wasn’t a pretty one and Eclipse chose to ignore it for just that reason. He started the engine and the jeep jerked into motion, the two sitting in an award silence for only a few moments.

“Is it worth me asking?” Athrun began.

"Depends,” she said with a wince when she shifted uncomfortably. “Are you asking as my new, commanding officer or as yourself?”

“Well, I was only just briefed about your particular circumstances and, technically, I’m not really allowed to know very much, just the basics. You report to Commander Le Creuset about that, not to me.”

“Oh?” That surprised her a bit and she finally looked at him.

“So, I guess I’m asking as me,” he finished after a moment. They weren’t that far from the infirmary and Athrun stopped the jeep nearby the entrance before she had decided what she had wanted to tell him. He turned off the lights and leaned back crossing his arms. “Nothing, huh?”

“Let’s just say, it didn’t go as planned.”

He sighed. “Clearly.” Stepping out, he walked around to her side and held out his hand to help her down. “C’mon,” he prompted, “yet another evening in the infirmary, it seems.”

She frowned, her arms dropping to her sides as she pivoted in her seat. She braced herself on the cushion and pushed off, landing on her left leg and steadying herself instead of taking his hand. She heard him sigh again and she looked at him. “You might know what I’m ordered to do now, but you’re not obliged to worry about me. I can still take care of myself.”

“Clearly,” he repeated and grabbed her right arm, slinging it over his shoulders as he helped her through the doors.

A nurse directed them through an initial set of seats and down the hall to the first room on their right. “A doctor will be around in a moment,” she said before she ran off, handing the clipboard and pen to Athrun.

The room was small, housing only a cot, a desk, and a chair. There was an IV stand in the corner and some instruments littering the top of the desk, but its use was meant for nothing more than examinations. It smelled like rubbing alcohol and Eclipse’s nose wrinkled as she hobbled over to the cot, releasing a sigh when she finally sat. It felt nice to be sitting again.

Sighing, Athrun leaned back against the wall near the bed and clicked the pen. “Not _exactly_ the first bit of paperwork I was expecting to deal with as your commanding officer…”

“Well, we all get dealt strange hands in life,” Eclipse spat, just as unamused as him. She started tugging off her jacket and winced as she twisted.

“Bruised ribs,” he muttered. “Check.” She frowned and set the jacket down on the cot next to her. “Various abrasions on the hands and face, and I’m assuming one freshly opened leg wound.” She followed his pointing pen to the blood droplet that just fell to the floor.

“Apparently so,” she responded with a wince. Taking a moment, she looked around the room, pointing over at the desk and seeing a pair of scissors sticking up from a holder there. “Can you hand me the scissors?”

His eyes moved from the form to her, over to the scissors, and then back at her. “We should wait for the doctor,” he said and went back to the clipboard.

“You’re going to be one of _those_ commanding officers, aren’t you?”

Her tone brought his gaze back to her again and she wiggled her fingers. “Scissors, please, sir.” He handed them to her with a sigh. “Thanks.”

She set them down near her jacket and bent over. Her shoe was the first thing to go, untying the laces and having to take a deep breath through another wince as she twisted it off. It was caked in mud and blood, most of which fell onto the floor when she set it down. Leaning back, she lifted her right leg up at the knee with both hands. She let her foot rest on the edge of the cot and took another breath before angling the scissors to cut her pants up to her knee.

It looked worse than it felt, Athrun’s audible wince adding fuel to the gruesome image. Dirt and gravel had mixed in with the wound and while most of the blood was dry, there was still a slow trickle teasing its way out of the bottom. Surprisingly, most of the stitches were still holding, but Eclipse had the feeling she would have to get it redone.

The doctor walked in as she was assessing the damage and his deep breath turned her to the dark-skinned man in the doorway. “Ah, should’ve expected it would be you.” He turned to Athrun and saluted before offering his hand. “Doctor Pyle.”

“Athrun Zala.”

Turning, the doctor grabbed a towel and some gloves from the box on the desk. Sitting in the chair, he put the towel across his legs and put on the gloves. “Give it here.”

Wincing, she put down the scissors and lifted the leg at the knee again, straightening it across his lap.

“I’m quite familiar with this particular wound, so I can let you know when I’m done with the examination,” he said to Athrun, assessing the damaged area. “You can wait outside if you want.”

“Nah, I’ll stay. Seeing her in pain is making this paperwork a little bit easier to go through.”

The doctor laughed and Eclipse would have been impressed by the remark if she didn’t wince when he poked a sensitive area. “We’ll need to clean it and restitch the wound, I’m afraid.”

“How long will she be out?”

“A couple days, I think. It doesn’t look worse, just reopened. I’ll put her on antibiotics for possible infection, stich it back up, and rebandage it. You’re also going back on crutches,” he added, pointing a finger at her.

“Yes, sir,” she muttered.

“Good.” He picked up her leg and twisted it around to set it on the towel on the cot, Eclipse pivoting with the movement, her back to Athrun near the door. The doctor removed his gloves and threw them in the bin. “Right, I’ll get what I need. Back in a moment.”

They sighed at the same time, Eclipse falling onto her back, remembering only after she had fallen on the side of the scissors that they were on her jacket. Wincing, she reached around her back to pull them out and she turned to see Athrun’s open palm. Thanking him, she put the handles in his hand and he put them flat on the desk to be cleaned.

“You know,” she began as he retook his spot against the wall. “You don’t seem overly concerned about my condition.”

“Should I be? I was also warned about your general lack of personal well-being. I assumed this was a common occurrence.”

She shrugged and they fell silent, Athrun returning to fill out the form as her attention returned to the ceiling. Her thoughts drifted back to the events of the evening and she suddenly saw the irony of it all. It was funny, she realized, her situation with SIN-ED actually wasn’t that different from what she assumed Athrun was going through. While she didn’t know all the details, she did know there was someone on the _Archangel_ he didn’t want hurt. She had her suspicions it was the Strike pilot, but without him ever outright saying it, she wasn’t sure she would ever really know. The Le Creuset Team was tasked with chasing and destroying the _Archangel_. Eclipse was tasked with disposing of SIN-ED.

And, yet, they both wanted to save someone.

“You know, you and I aren’t that different.”

“How so?”

“We’re both trying to save people who probably shouldn’t be saved.” She arched her head back, catching his gaze and seeing the surprise there. Even upside down she could tell she had taken him off guard.

Doctor Pyle returned in that moment and the irony continued that evening, Nicol walking by and catching the door before it closed. “Athrun?” he asked, seeing the redhead the next moment. “Eclipse? What’s going on? You okay?”

Eclipse arched her head back again to answer, but she realized Nicol was looking at Athrun, not her, and the young commander was still looking at her. What was that in his eyes, fear? Guilt?

“Yeah, fine,” Athrun responded, breaking the look and turning to Nicol. “Just filing in my first incident report as commander.” He put on a smile and Nicol must have bought it because despite the worry before, a grin was now on his lips.

“Well, leave it to Eclipse to keep our jobs interesting.”

The redhead almost made a remark, but Doctor Pyle had begun cleaning the wound and she cursed.

Loudly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, another day, another chapter. I'm not a huge an of this fight, not gonna lie, and I had debated making it a bit... unhealthier than it currently is, but the problem with that is things in SEED start moving pretty quickly in this part of the show, so Eclipse couldn't be too hurt. 
> 
> Got a chance to see the affectionately named Druggies here in their first appearance. Aw... those guys never got enough screen time in my opinion, but they weren't exactly stable in SEED either, so my goal was to change that a little bit. This won't be the only time they make an appearance, so be prepared to see a bit more of them.
> 
> I did an utter rewrite for the ending of this chapter. I had gotten completely called out in my first draft and there was no way I could pass up this opportunity to make it a little bit more "realistic." Originally, I had Eclipse getting back onto base without any issues to which I had been promptly told, everyone is checked at the gate. Hence the new ending. I like it better anyway, to be fair, so like everything else I've edited so far... if anyone has the original version, burn it. XD
> 
> Thanks again for sparing a moment of your busy lives to check in on my characters. I'll see you all in the next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	32. Dealing with It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was supposed to be a peaceful transport to Carpentaria turned into a MIA commander. Not a great start for the Zala team...

** Dealing with It **

“So, tell me what happened again?” FS asked, rubbing his temples as another migraine pounded behind his eyes. How can such competent people turn out to be so hopeless? “And keep it in chronological order this time, Wrath.” Three of the remaining Sins were sitting in the SIN-ED medical room. It was much like the scene from before, except Sloth was the one lying incarcerated in the bed and Stray was standing in the doorway perfectly healthy. Fortunately, Sloth lived, but being stuck in a coma until further notice didn’t exactly mean he was useful. Too little oxygen to the brain was the main reason for the life support machine, but stupidity and pride was the _real_ reason the Sin was lying in the bed.

“We were about to steal the final materials when Sloth literally jumped out of the car,” Wrath explained. “He was complaining about something, but, honestly, I have no idea what.” The boy shrugged, shifting sideways on the armrest when FS’s elbow nearly hit him. “So, he jumped out and just walked off. Gluttony tried to call him back, but he just waved us off. Quite rudely, actually.”

“Jaeger, what happened next?” FS asked, trying to hear things from both comrades. Wrath had a tendency to put things out of order and Stray was notorious for being vague. One way or another he would get the truth. 

“We got the materials next and when we returned to look for Sloth, he was long gone,” Stray said, staring at the floor as he leaned against the doorframe. Exhaustion and frustration were only two of his emotions.

Sadness was a big one too.

“Why didn’t you chase after him to begin with?”

“We scheduled our break-in around when they changed their security and that time was coming up fast. Besides, I honestly didn’t think he’d run off.”

“You didn’t think _Sloth_ would go anywhere?” FS emphasized, knowing that particular Sin did have a rebellious streak every now and then despite his obvious laziness.

“ _Especially_ because it was Sloth.”

FS sighed, getting to his feet—knocking Wrath off the chair in the process—and walking over to the window. Wrath said a few unfriendly words, but no one paid any attention. “Then what?”

“Well,” Wrath began after he composed himself and sat down in the chair once FS has left. “We searched the area, heard some gunshots, and came in on Sloth spilling his guts to our favorite assassins. Not in the emotional sense, of course.”

“Of course,” FS muttered, merely humoring the boy, but then mentally kicking himself for doing it. That Sin had a big enough ego already.

“Then, I took Sloth back to the car, heard the cops coming, sped over to Gluttony, and we high-tailed it outta there. Oh, without the girls though.”

“Yes, I think I realized that much, thank you.” FS sighed again, wishing the headache would go away, but knowing that as long as the Sins were being so childish he would be having plenty of migraines. “Now Wrath, please go join Kross at the car. I’m sending you two along with the cargo to outer space. Some EA officers will meet you on the moon. Kross knows the details.”

“We’re working with the EA again?” FS nodded and Wrath shrugged, seemingly unperturbed by the news. “Alright, then what about Miato? I thought he was coming too?”

FS shook his head. “I’m moving him to a new assignment and I think it’s going to be taking up a lot of his time,” FS explained, waving Wrath out a moment later. He didn’t seem to mind the change of plans which was working in FS’s favor. The less the others knew of the games he was playing, the better.

Wrath passed by Stray, offered a small wink and then left the room, running down the hallway. A scream sounded from where the Sin had fled, making his remaining comrades sigh, knowing the exclamation could have been from anything—sexual harassment being the highest on the list.

Exhausted, FS turned to his friend looking guilty in the doorway. “Why did you let them go?”

“I didn’t; they fled.”

“You had your chance to bring both in. Why didn’t you?”

“You said we weren’t going to take Lexi by force. Besides, I still think—”

“You’re still on that?”

Stray blinked. Having gotten worked up during his last response, he stopped further into the room with his arms outstretched and leaning over Sloth’s bed. Mouth agape, he only managed a faint reply. “W-what?” Was this really FS standing in front of him? The one who _promised_ him they would get Lexi back?

“You have to forget about that.”

“Forget about what, Revelin?”

“Lexi; she’s not coming.”

That stung.

“What do you mean ‘not coming?’ You _said—_ ”

“Please, Jaeger,” FS groaned, leaning over on the opposite side of the bed. Waiting for his comrade to reply, FS curled his hands into fists when a blank stare was his only response. “We can’t trust her to—”

“What, you want me to kill her?” Stray interrupted, making fists of his own. _Now_ he was going to give up? When they were so close?

“Do you _want_ to kill her?”

“What kind of a question is that? Of course not, dumbass.”

This time it was FS’s turn to stare. Stray had never been so disrespectful—let alone swear at him. Sure, FS should’ve anticipated such retaliation, but the SIN-ED leader knew Lexi wasn’t coming. There were more important things to worry about now. “At any rate, I’m sending you—”

“You’re just going to change the subject?”

“ _Stop_ interrupting me.” FS’s look was sharp, and its meaning not lost on the stubborn chef. He knew when the brunette was serious even if some of the others had no idea. “I’m sending you to space with Wrath and Kross, so go get ready.”

“What? Just like that”

“Your little masquerades are getting my people slaughtered. Lust and I will handle things down here while you babysit Wrath and the others up there.”

“But Lexi is down here!”

“Damnit, if you say that one more time there’ll be even more people wanting you disposed of.” Silence. Who knew a simple statement could replace so much tension with the sickening sense of fear?

“Disposed of?” Stray asked, the statement squelching his anger for a moment. “Why would anyone—”

“Think about it; open your eyes and—y’know what? Better yet, just pack and follow Wrath into the shuttle. For some reason, that Sin is still attached to you and you should be taking advantage of that. Lay low while you’re up there and I’ll see you in a few months.”

“A few months?”

“Maybe less, but we have a _lot_ to work on down here yet. Not to mention we don’t even have all the supplies.”

“But I can still be of some help—”

“Jaeger, please, this is getting terribly repetitive. For once, just don’t argue with me and go.” Stray was about to respond, but FS silenced him with an outstretched hand and started leaving the room. If Stray really wanted to fight, he could do it at another time. Right then, FS was trying his hardest to keep everyone under control. Yes, certain members wanted Stray killed—and that was out of the question by FS’s standards—but he could only do so much. They were down to four Sins: Pride, Gluttony, Wrath and Lust and the prospect of trying to find new replacements for the others made FS even more exhausted. Actually, he wasn’t even sure if he was going to. No one else was eligible for the task—blame insanity and the large amount of youngsters for that one—so how could he put more people on the staff if they were going to do a half-assed job at best? Miato and Kross could fit in nicely, but neither of them wanted to step up. Most likely because they knew what had happened to their predecessors and the thought of getting dismembered wasn’t so appealing. “A few months then,” FS said to his comrade, patting him on the shoulder before exiting the room.

Stray watched him go, but made no movement to leave himself. It seemed so simple, and yet everyone was making it so complicated. Talk Lexi into joining SIN-ED. Not so hard, right? _Hah, it didn’t seem hard until Revelin had Roan killed,_ Stray musted. Roan had been obsessed with getting Lexi, but now that he was gone, no one else seemed to give a damn. _Now look at what’s happening,_ he continued, chewing on his bottom lip as he sat down on the edge of the bed. _I’m getting blamed for something Revelin started in the first place._ Cursing, the boy looked around at the empty room, his eyes resting on the medical machine off to his left. _Lust and him are gonna stay here, huh? Damnit, all! Doesn’t he realize Lust’ll kill her for sure?_

Stray didn’t get angry often, so when he did, people in the vicinity had better hope he wasn’t in arms reach of his knife collection in the kitchen. Well, needless to say, he wasn’t in the kitchen, but his anger still came on strong. “Revelin, you better not kill her. And you, shut the hell up!” Spinning, he side-kicked the life support machine and sent it spiraling away. The chords stretched and the alarms blared just before it crashed into the wall. “Stupid sonofa—” Stray cursed and stomped out of the room, ignoring the nurses and Miato as they pushed passed him. Obviously, Stray had done the damage, but no one bothered to accuse him of it.

Oh well, just another reason to add to the “why kill Gluttony” list.

* * *

“Each of you will have your own transport. More room for the mobile suits, and this way we can all having a relaxing flight. I’m sure we have things we want to think about individually and whatnot,” Athrun explained. It was an impromptu meeting with the newly formed Zala Team in the same classroom they all met Le Creuset the day before. Fate, some may call it, but convenience was more like it.

“So nice of you to think of our psychological welfare,” Yzak grumbled, shifting uncomfortably in his chair across from and to Athrun’s left. Nicol sighed to Yzak’s right while Dearka smirked from the other half of the room next to Eclipse. The redhead decided to stay neutral.

“We’re heading out in four hours. Be packed, with your mobile suit in the carrier, by then. Understood?”

“Sir!” Nicol and Eclipse said immediately, saluting respectively.

“Yes, commander,” Dearka added, spitting out the title.

“Yeah, yeah,” the last soldier grumbled before following the previous three out the door.

Athrun watched them go sadly, angry about the predicament, but also knowing there was nothing he could do. Yzak would act like a delinquent as long as he felt necessary and Dearka would follow along like a good flunkie. Surprisingly, the blond _was_ getting a personality—as far as Athrun could tell—but not enough to make him bearable. Sighing, the redcoat just scratched the back of his head and looked at the papers stacked in the folder near his left hand. Some of those papers were combat statistics from the previous battles, but most of the information was the stuff on Eclipse Commander Le Creuset never got around to explaining. Not much, but enough to make him nervous. Did he really want to know?

Would things between them change if he did?

“What the hell was that, Yzak?” Eclipse spat, shoving the hothead sideways into the wall. “Can we retire the diapers already and buy you some boxers?”

“Hey, watch it! I’m sick of his superior act—”

“He’s our _commander_ ,” the redhead stressed. “If he doesn’t act like that, I might as well get you _both_ some training underwear.”

“Would you stop calling me a baby? I just hate that—”

“Yes, jealousy sucks.”

“Enough,” Nicol stepped in, turning and literally pulling the two apart. The conversation had gotten so heated they were practically face-to-face. Face-to-chest was a more accurate visual, but Nicol didn’t feel like getting on Eclipse’s bad side. Yzak was doing fine with that already. “Don’t you think it’s about time we started acting like a team?”

“Hmpf, it’s not that easy,” Yzak muttered, but still looked guilty for admitting it. Pride was a dangerous emotion and when combined with jealousy. 

“Alright, alright, Nicol has a point,” Dearka said, finally speaking up. “If we want to defeat the ‘Legged Ship,’ we have to start liking each other. Or at least agree on some form of toleration.”

“The only ones who have issues are you two. So, yes, great advice, Dearka. Now, follow it.” With that, Eclipse stormed off, leaving the rest of her team to wonder who shit in her omelet that morning.

“And now I’m thinking Athrun was on to something,” the blond said first. “Perhaps we need some alone time after all.” Eclipse usually wasn’t the hothead of the group—hell, she usually wasn’t even emotional—but knowing what she had been through recently, none of them could blame her for the sudden fit of rage.

Yzak nodded slowly and followed Dearka down the hall. Nicol sighed and shook his head. They all had to get their act together if they wanted to defeat that Earth Forces ship. “It’s all so ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous?” Athrun asked, meeting the boy in the hallway. The folder of papers was slipped under his arm, but the grim smile on his lips said he knew—or at least guessed—what had happened. “Never mind; let’s get ready for transport.”

* * *

“You should’ve taken her for a test drive at least,” the head mechanic said, standing next to Eclipse as she made some quick adjustments. “You haven’t even gone walking in the thing.”

The redhead sighed, and—despite her foul mood—replied calmly. “I know, a lot of things came up and now there’s no time. I’ll take it out when we reach Carpentaria. All the information’s been transferred?”

“Sent and probably memorized by now.”

“Good. Thanks.”

“Yeah, sure, it’s my job. I will admit, I really wanted to see this baby fly.” Fixing his cap, the older man nodded a farewell and turned to go.

Eclipse thought she heard a sigh and before she could even stop herself, she became another victim of the famed word vomit. However, this kind didn’t taste too bad. “I’ll bring it around later. You’d better be here.”

The mechanic laughed, stopping mid-step. Pivoting, he placed his hands on his hips and smiled. “I’ll be around, but she’d better not have a scratch on her.”

“Who, me or the Stealth?”

“The Stealth, of course,” he said matter-of-factly. “I don’t give a damn about you. I didn’t _make_ you. Pretty sure you’re a prime example of why I haven’t made any kids at all.”

Eclipse laughed, the laptop nearly falling off her legs in the process at such a blunt comment. It could have been because of his choice of vocabulary, but the look on his face was priceless too. He was serious. She tried to respond, but resorted to more laughter the second he winked and walked away.

Maybe she would miss him after all.

“Coffee Addict, switching to outward maintenance. Ending OS walkthrough,” the redhead muttered between grins. It was hard to stay professional when his joke was still echoing in the back of her mind. 

“Stealth acknowledges. Closing all interior maintenance and awaiting further instructions,” the mechanical voice replied, sounding a tad more stoic than the redhead remembered, but she wasn’t about to complain. Perhaps she was just getting used to the monotone, or even on the verge of liking it. After all, monotone meant there was nothing emotional going on behind the scenes and that she could handle. There was so much emotional drama in her life now she was nearly drowning in it. 

It was nice to be given the cold shoulder. 

Letting out a slight groan, Eclipse got to her feet. While her wounds weren’t bothering her too much, they were still there and noticeable. Her leg was giving her the most trouble, even offering a restless night for her troubles. While it had been healing nicely, she still had a slight limp, despite her hiding it when others were around. At that moment, a wince and a groan were warranted, and she had no one to blame but herself. SIN-ED had her running ragged lately and if it wasn’t for her lack of energy—or even working appendages—she would be training, but instead she was having a playdate with her new suit and mechanical companion.

“Coffee Addict, I plan on making some adjustments to the wiring in the left arm and then fixing the energy output in the OS.”

“Acknowledged.” While the Hyper-impulse cannon was an impressive weapon to have, she honestly wasn’t sure how often she’d use it. Yes, she never really took the Stealth out in battle yet, but if she was forced to use the positronic weapon, her battery would be drained to a point she wouldn’t be comfortable with. She knew there was a way to decrease the cannon’s power output as well as shift it to have a more practical use than just obliterating mobile suits. Overkill wasn’t something she enjoyed. Well, at least her human side.

The Berserker loved it.

 _Maybe I could have it shoot electrons instead,_ she mused, hoisting the lift up the Stealth’s left arm. _Hey, that’s it!_ Stopping, she stared at the elbow joint and smiled. A few adjustments here and there she’d be able to have an outward, energy transfer as well as a relatively powerful attack weapon. The whole thing could be controlled from the cockpit—which made things easier in a battle situation—but how she altered the energy output depended on how much battery life she wanted to lose on each execution. _Not as strong of an attack,_ she admitted, deciding to decrease the output and save the battery, _but having a taser might not be too bad. It’ll only be for emergencies, after all._ Nodding to herself, she began removing the armor panels near the joint, silently groaning when she saw all the wiring inside. If there was one thing she hated about fixing suits, was all the damned, colorful rubber tubes inside of them. However, it was amazing when by moving one or two wires, the suit could take serious damage. Hence Breck’s BuCUE in the simulation. Snip and move the right tubes and, bam, there’s a totaled unit. Muttering something under her breath, she reached inside and got creative. 

Eclipse had no idea how long she had been working. In fact, she didn’t even have a chance to look at the clock. Who knew it could take three hours to sort through an electrical labyrinth?

“Eclipse, have a minute?”

That startled her. Not only was she concentrating so hard the rest of the world had drowned out, but the voice was vaguely familiar. Turning around, she realized it was, in fact, terribly familiar. “Yzak?”

The Duel pilot looked reluctant to be there—embarrassed even—but why, she wasn’t sure. However, the look wasn’t really comforting. “I wanted to talk about what happened in the hallway.”

“Okay—sure—hold on.” Taking a few moments to reattach the metal plate she removed, Eclipse flipped some switches and slowly descended to the hanger floor. She wiped the sweat drops from her forehead before leaning on the railing, not bothering to completely leave the lift. After all, she planned on going back up.

Sighing, Yzak scratched the back of his head before crossing his arms over his chest and looking off to his right. “I’m sorry.” Eclipse blinked, but didn’t say anything. This was a surprise. “I know I can get a bit touchy when it comes to Athrun and—well—there was no reason for me to take it out on you.”

“You didn’t take it out on me, though. You do realize I was sticking up for Athrun, right?”

“Yes, I know, but you’re right, I _do_ take things out on him way too much.”

 _What the hell?_ Eclipse thought, almost saying it aloud, but withheld the comment. Yzak was apologizing. To the wrong person maybe, but apologizing, nonetheless. Now she smiled. “Yes, you do, and you should really start thinking about that.”

“I think about it—sure—but acting on it’s another story. We’ve had a rivalry for a long time, you see, and—well—he won.”

“He didn’t win, Yzak.”

“Yes, he did; think about it. _Why_ did Commander Le Creuset choose him? What has he got, I don’t?”

Eclipse sighed, really wishing she wasn’t the one he had come to on this particular subject. What was she supposed to say? Well, the truth usually worked. “He has a calm head—for starters—and I might even say more experience, but that’s not necessarily true. See, you act more on impulses and Athrun thinks things through a bit more. When facing the ‘Legged Ship,’ the commander was probably thinking we need more of a tactical leader than just one who relies on strength.”

“So, you mean he chose Athrun not because he’s better than me, but because he likes his methods for this situation better than mine?”

Eclipse nodded, smiling slightly at his change of appearance. He looked pleased with that explanation—thank goodness. Yzak would be a fine commander someday, the redhead knew, but when facing opponents with as much strength and skill as the _Archangel_ ¸ they couldn’t afford to rely merely on luck and muscles. Finesse maybe, but not pure power.

“Alright, I guess that sounds logical.”

“Glad to hear it. You’ll back off then?”

The Duel pilot smiled then, more of a devilish smirk, but an interesting look nonetheless. “We’re still rivals, Eclipse; I can’t let him off so easily. If you’re telling me he’s only won round one, then I’m gonna win round two for sure. But,” he began when the redhead sighed loudly, “I just _might_ cut him a break. Might.”

 _That’s the most I can expect, I guess,_ she thought, but couldn’t help but smile. Yzak could be a dick at times, but some moments—like now—he seemed like a whole different person. She knew he would never stop picking on Athrun, but toning it down was a good idea, especially if they were on the same team. Now they had to rely on one another and having fist fights every time a decision had to be made was going to get ridiculous, not to mention a huge leap backwards.

“So, you ready to take off? Since you seem tangled in all this wiring, I’m thinking not.”

“H-huh? What time is it?”

“We’re leaving in a half hour.”

“W-what?”

“Yup, I’d get moving if I were you.”

Wide-eyed, Eclipse nearly fell off the lift. Given, it was flat on the ground, but still a face plant on cement wasn’t an appealing injury, especially since she had so many other scraps and bruises to worry about. “I take it you’ve already loaded the Duel?”

“For once, I was thinking ahead and you were the one stuck daydreaming.”

“I wasn’t daydreaming.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” He smiled slightly and the redhead just cocked an eyebrow. This was a weird situation. “C’mon, I’ll help you get this thing onto the carrier.” 

And it got weirder.

“ _You’re_ going to help me?”

“Why, does that sound strange?”

“Only a bit.” Sighing, Eclipse threw up her hands in defeat. Yzak didn’t understand why his offer was causing so much confusion, the Stealth was only halfway through adjustments, and they had to be off this base in less than a half hour. She had no choice but to give in. “Coffee Addict, we’re transferring to the carrier. We’ll stabilize the left elbow in there and finish the OS when we reach Carpentaria. Our top priority is getting us off this base on time.”

“Understood. Stealth heading out.”

“Who the hell are you talking to?” the Duel pilot asked, deciding not to delve into her mental stability. The picture of that medic in Banadiya was still fresh in his mind. Quickly, he glanced around for any sharp objects and when his eyes rested on a few mechanic tools, he gulped. “You’re not going psycho on me, are you?”

“Huh? Psycho?” Eclipse didn’t have time to explain after that, her mobile suit taking a step forward on its way to the hangar exit.

“What the fu—” was all Yzak managed, having to dive out of the way before a huge, metal foot squashed him in his short moment of sentimentality. Either the Stealth was still getting used to moving on its own, or it didn’t like anyone calling its pilot names. Considering the redhead’s record, the comment was well placed, but the Stealth didn’t know that yet. Well, it would know firsthand soon enough. 

“I don’t think my suit likes you.”

“I-it’s moving on its own?”

“Courtesy of my genius of a brother.”

“You have a brother?”

She laughed and shook her head, hiding her wince as she attempted a jog to keep the Stealth in sight. “There’s plenty about me you don’t know, Yzak. C’mon, we’d better catch up to it.”

* * *

“The flight is going to take a while, so get comfortable,” was all Eclipse heard before the pilots got the carrier into the air. The Stealth was safely in the transport and, thanks to Yzak’s helping hand, the left elbow joint was secure. If anything was to happen to them during the flight—a random encounter, for example—she could at least put up a decent fight without worrying about the unit falling apart on her.

Comforting.

Kind of.

Sitting down in one of the many offered seats, she just sighed. While some personal time may have been appreciated—needed even—for the other individuals on the team, Eclipse was starting to think otherwise. Probably, because she now had time to dwell on the things she was purposely avoiding. It was easy to forget her psychological instability when she was talking to her mobile suit, but now there was nothing but silence.

Accepting her lack of good fortune, she opened her laptop. There was some saved information from her previous searches—stuff on SIN-ED she said she would get to later—but still not enough to keep her occupied for the whole eight hours it would take to get to Carpentaria. _Maybe I’ll write Namarra a letter,_ she mused, but shook off the idea immediately.

After all, she didn’t want a return one.

Drumming her fingers impatiently on the armrest, she gazed out the window as the carrier breached the clouds. A sight, to be sure, and not one that’s beauty was lost on the rather unoccupied redhead. She had always loved flying—and all her transports were enjoyable for just that reason—so watching the clouds hang below her was beginning to be a relaxing pastime. The sun was off to her right—causing no major comfort issues from her sitting position—and the interesting shadow the carrier cast on the clouds made her smiled. _We look like a crane_ , she mused. The colors in the sky were gorgeous, but what was even more interesting were the small patches of Earth seen through the clouds. Not much was down there—mainly desert sands since they were still above the upper part of Africa—but the thought of being up so high gave her a sense of power. However, seeing the dunes rippling below, Eclipse had to turn away, not ready to face them so easily just yet. By this time, her laptop had warmed up, displaying the bland, ZAFT logo as her background and the various icons she had never bothered to click on. 

Perhaps she should have.

Boredom could have been the reason she paid extra attention to them this time—stalling being another—but whatever caused the inquiry, three new icons had appeared since the last time she had opened the machine. _When did I use this last?_ she thought, realizing her arrival in Banadiya was probably the most recent time. _That’s interesting; I don’t remember putting these here._ They were all worded documents and simply named “Eclipse 1,” “Eclipse 2,” and “Apology.” Blinking, the redhead clicked on “Eclipse 1.” 

“Simple, Good, And Quick Coffee Recipes,” she read aloud, surprised with the sudden burst of laughter that hit her system. Waltfeld had obviously written the document, and the fact that he had bothered to hack into her personal computer to write such a thing meant he took her love for his addiction seriously. Just imagining him breaking into her room to steal the computer brought more laughter—most likely Aisha did it for him—enough to cause some happy tears. “Alright commander, what did you put?” 

**_Haven’t named this one:_ **

_Mix 1 1/2c of hot chocolate_

_2c of Italian coffee_

_3tsp orange extract._

_Interesting blend, but you need to have a liking for oranges. Mess around with the extract yourself._

_**Irish coffee:** _

_2c of strong coffee (Espresso is good)_

_2tbsp of orange juice_

_2tsp of lemon juice._

_This is another fruity one, but I think you’ll actually like it. Try switching the amounts of orange and lemon juice. It tastes good that way too._

And the recipes went on, the commander adding in comments here and there to explain his reasoning. There was an interesting area at the end where he went into alcohol mixtures, causing the redhead to smile again. “Only when you’re of age!” he stressed, but then added in a few lines down, “When you’re with me, though, it doesn’t matter.”

Taking a few more moments to enjoy the document, Eclipse closed it and went on to the one labeled “Eclipse 2.” _Oh boy,_ she thought. _What’s this one gonna be? Fashion sense?_ “Tips On Love: How to Find It and How to Avoid It,” the title read, Aisha’s name typed just below. This, the redhead only chuckled at, feeling a bit solemn rather than happy. Here was solid advice, and, honestly, Eclipse wished she could have heard it in person. 

_Step one: Strike up a conversation. (Don’t forget to ask their name if there’s no formal introduction. Awkwardness is never fun.)_

_Step two (part 1): If interested, flirt._

_Step two (part 2): If not interested, run away fast. (Just kidding. Actually, be nice about it, okay?)_

_Step three: Smile. (This could be involved with step two, but just remember it. You have a pretty smile, Eclipse.)_

_Step four: First date. (Remember, not everyone is obsessed with coffee. That can get rather old after a while. Oh, don’t tell Andy I said that.)_

_Step five: Kiss. (Oh, stop blushing! Fact of love, honey.)_

_Step six: You’re on your own. (I won’t tell you what to do from here on out, but—hey—maybe you’ll get to ask me, right?)_

_**How to Avoid it:** _

_Step one: Don’t_

_Step two: Follow step one. (Honestly, Eclipse, you close yourself off way too much. Sure, I think you can love but you choose not to. And, no, being friends doesn’t count. You know what kind of “love” I’m getting at here. If you’ve made enemies, apologize. If you’ve found prospects, think about it.)_

Eclipse smiled, going on to read some smaller tips at the bottom of the page. Yes, she really wished she could have been able to talk to Aisha about all of it personally. _But wait,_ she blinked, _when did I turn into a sap?_ Chuckling, Eclipse closed the document and opened the last one labeled “Apology.” This one was from DaCosta.

_Yeah, sorry for hacking into this thing, but I watched the other two do it and figured you deserved some kind of apology for the trouble. I debated deleting what they wrote and pretending like nothing happened, but it looked like some positive guidance. Can’t argue with good intentions. Anyway, I’m sorry. They didn’t look at anything personal—at least I don’t think so—and all of the files are still intact. Blame me for mentioning the new shipment of champagne in the village and for running out to get it. I had no idea this was how the night would turn out._

_Oh, on a happy note. I was talking with the commander the morning after this whole escapade—I don’t even think he had a hangover—and we’re thinking of keeping you on permanently. We’ll talk about this another time, but I just wanted to get the gears moving._

After the two messages before, the redhead couldn’t even feel sad about this. She suspected the transfer, but—most likely—Le Creuset wouldn’t have allowed it. No surprise. _They were sweet for thinking of it, though_ , she thought with a smile and closed the last document. _Honestly, I wouldn’t give up that time for anything._ Nodding, Eclipse searched through her saved documents and pulled up the information on SIN-ED. It was a drastic change in subject matter, but in order to keep her other friends from dying, she _had_ to know what they were up to, or at least have a few guesses. _FS, Stray, how did it come to this? Aisha says don’t avoid love of any kind and here I am trying to break ours apart. FS, I really need to talk to you. There has to be something—anything—I can say to change all of this._

* * *

In the end, the flight didn’t feel like eight hours. Part of that could have been blamed on Eclipse falling asleep three hours in and the other part on the rather dramatic landing that Eclipse could only describe as a close call. If any of the other transports had been nearby, all five of the redcoats may have been inadvertently involved. 

Well, there were supposed to be five.

“Why hasn’t Athrun landed yet?” Dearka asked, running to catch up with the other three standing near Nicol’s transport. “The Buster is already in the hangar and he still hasn’t showed?”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Nicol admitted.

“It’s only been a half hour. Maybe he got the slow pilot,” Yzak muttered, turning to walk away from the group, but Eclipse stopped him.

“If you’re leaving, go find out what’s happened. If anything, you can get on the transmission line.”

“Yeah, Eclipse’s got a point,” Nicol said, fixing the Duel pilot with a hard stare. “I don’t like this; something’s wrong.”

“Honestly, I agree. You all got the message about that battle, right? Do you think he got involved somehow?” Dearka wondered, turning from one comrade to another. “If he needs backup—”

“Alright, alright, I’ll go see what I can find out. You guys just wait in the briefing room, or something. I’ll contact you when I know more, how’s that?” Yzak grumbled, walking off without waiting for an answer and flailing his arms in defeat. 

Eclipse smiled. “He’s worried.”

“That’s obvious,” Dearka added. “But let’s do as he says, just case he really _is_ pissed off.” The remaining two nodded, all three walking past the transports and into the Carpentaria main building.

It was another twenty minutes to a half hour before Yzak opened the door to the briefing room. Inside, Nicol had been staring out the huge, bay window and Dearka had been reading on the only couch. Eclipse sat on the coffee table across and to the right of him, watching the other two as well as running through some scenarios in her head. If something had gone wrong, the Stealth wouldn’t be able to do much. Not even she knew how the adjustments—half finished—affected her battery life. She might have been able to flee from a scrape during transport but to send her out for a full-scale battle would be suicide.

Hopefully, everything was okay.

“Yzak, heard anything about Athrun?” Nicol asked, walking towards the Duel pilot as he closed the door. 

“Members of the Zala Team,” he began, “I’m here to give you an update on this honorable team’s first mission.” His tone and choice of endearments bothered the redhead, but she kept silent. They had already talked about his attitude. “There could be no mission of greater importance that this.” He paused, building up as much tension as he could muster out of the small group. No doubt he’d get slapped for it later, but, at the moment, it was worth it. “We are to rescue our leader.”

 _Damnit_ , Eclipse cursed as Dearka immediately started laughing. Nicol, however, didn’t seem as pleased as his blond comrade. In fact, he looked pissed.

“I suppose it’s not his fault since it was his transport plane that threw him out,” Yzak went on. “Anyway, HQ is too busy right now, so it’s up to _us_ to find him.”

“Oh boy, our team’s certainly off to an incredible start,” Dearka mused, setting his book down on his lap and shaking his head. Yes, things were getting interesting, but they didn’t have to sound so heartless. Nicol—silently fuming in the corner—seemed to agree.

“But, since the sun is about to set, we’ll start our search tomorrow.”

“You’re kidding?” Nicol snapped, cutting in after Yzak with an intimidating look on his face. Even Yzak rocked back on his heels.

“Calm down, he’s in the Aegis, so I wouldn’t worry too much, if I were you,” Dearka countered, aiming to get a hold of the situation. Either that or he felt bad about his laughter a few moments before and was trying to make up for it. “Even if he _did_ take a fall, it’s not like he fell through the atmosphere.”

“Maybe not, but we landed in ally territory and on land,” Eclipse said, knowing the Buster pilot was referring to their recent experience with space travel. “Yzak, did his transport leave later than us?” He nodded. “Then he must’ve run into the battle we nearly missed. If that’s the case, he could be shot down right now and we’re sitting on our asses making fun of him for it.”

“If he was in a lot of trouble, he would’ve contacted HQ by now and we would’ve heard something,” Dearka argued.

“Alright then,” Yzak cut in, willing to end the dispute before anyone else could speak up. “There you have it. We’ll stay here over night and then set sail tomorrow when the next carrier sub is ready.” He didn’t even wait for a reply, turning and walking out of the room as Dearka grabbed his book and hurried after him.

“We can never do things the easy way, can we?” Nicol asked, plopping down on the couch across from Eclipse still sitting on the table once the other two had left. Staring out the window, the pilot issued another sigh. Yes, he really wanted to go find Athrun, but, despite the callous approach to the situation, Yzak had a point. There was no way they’d find him at night, so all they could do was sit around and wait.

Frustrating.

“Life would be so boring if everything came easy,” Eclipse responded, sighing as she shifted uncomfortably. “They do have a point though, he should be fine.”

“Yes, I know that just as well as you, but still…” Nicol trailed off and tried getting to his feet.

“Trying” meaning the redhead pulled him back down by the cuff of his sleeve. “Just relax; there’s no use getting all worked up over it.”

“What, you’re not worried in the _least_?”

“Well, I can worry all I want but that won’t make him walk through the door. Besides, I have to keep convincing myself he knows what he’s doing. Commander or no, he has his moments.”

“As do we all.”

Eclipse sighed, nodding slowly. “And most we regret,” she whispered. Nicol didn’t seem to hear her—which could have been a good thing—but since her apology was long overdue, the redhead figured this was as good of time as any. “I’m sorry, Nicol.”

“For what?” he asked, turning a confused look her way. Judging by his initial reaction, Eclipse would say he really had no idea, but there was no way he forgot something like her immature behavior back at Gibraltar.

Or was she the only one it bothered?

“Before—at the Stealth—when I blew you off,” she explained. “You were only trying to help and I practically threw a wrench at your face.”

“I don’t remember any wrench, but don’t worry about it; I pressured you into it anyway. I should’ve stopped to think how uncomfortable you felt.”

Pausing, she blinked, and then started laughing. Not a full-out laugh, but one cute enough to make Nicol’s stomach do a flip.

He liked that sound. 

“ _You’re_ saying sorry to _me_? Definitely not something I expected.”

“Well,” the pilot began, his mood lifting. “I really think you should at least talk about it. Now, I’m no psychiatrist, but having something that huge eating you up can’t be healthy.”

“No, it probably isn’t, but don’t worry. I’m working it out of my system in my own way.” 

“That’s a pretty vague answer, although, I won’t press. But, Eclipse, you _are_ going to be okay, right? You _do_ know none of that was your fault?” The concern was expected, hell, even the question was, but the level of concern in the look had taken her off guard.

“Yes, I know.” She didn’t even sound convincing to herself, if she was being honest.

“Do you? Because I really need you to. Eclipse, you can’t blame yourself for something beyond your control.”

Ironically, she almost snapped at him. It could’ve been the immature gene kicking in her system again, but her guilt was another possibility. The fact was—like Namarra mentioned before—the battle _was_ under her control. 

She just blew it.

“What if I could prove to you it was my fault?” Eclipse began, looking down to the floor after she made the comment. At first, she regretted it. She was serious when she said she was dealing with it and she had even managed to get through the transport—through reading those notes from Banadiya without any issues.

“Eclipse, no matter what happened—what you did or didn’t do—the outcome would’ve been the same. Commander Waltfeld made a choice. While it may not have been the right one, you didn’t _make_ him want to fight the Strike. Just like you didn’t _make_ Aisha fight with him. Sure, you could’ve fired one more shot or evaded to the left instead of the right, but they still _made_ that choice.”

She blinked and he paused. He was both kind and insightful, it seemed. He saw the look and looked uncomfortable for a second. “W-what?”

“When did you get so philosophical?” she asked, smiling slightly to ease the tension. The conversation was going in a direction she really wasn’t comfortable with, but she found his words interesting. “I said I could prove it was my fault, and you’re trying to convince me otherwise. Why?”

“Why not? Does blaming yourself make you feel better?”

She thought about it for a moment, but ended up shrugging. “Honestly? Kinda, but I see where you’re heading with this.”

“Death is a part of life.” He shrugged his shoulders then and her look changed. Perhaps there was more to him than she realized.

“Why are you here, Nicol?”

“What do you mean?”

“Here—in ZAFT. In the military.”

“I guess that’s rather… complicated,” he began and looked away when he caught her looking at him again. The genuine interest and intensity made him nervous. “I don’t want to be some days, and yet feel—what’s the word—obligated? Does that work?” He paused and searched her face for some sort of answer, but she just shrugged. “Y’know what, let me get back to you on that one. I’m sure I have some grand explanation somewhere.”

“Hmpf, I wish I did,” the redhead admitted, smiling sadly at his confused expression. “I’m just here; maybe because I have to be, maybe because I want to be, or maybe, I just don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t.”

“I don’t think anyone is meant to thrive in war,” he admitted. “Seems a bit counterproductive to our instincts to search for a peaceful existence, don’t you think?”

“Going philosophical again?” Eclipse gave a short laugh and shook her head, trying not to dwell on his words. Or hear the laugh in the back of her mind. “C’mon, if you have time to think, you have time to help me with the Stealth.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“I didn’t get to finish some tweaks in Gibraltar and if we need to find Athrun, I’d like to be properly armed, just in case.”

He sighed. “Seriously, let the mechanics do these things.”

“Oh, come on, how else do I avoid my emotional trauma?”

He shook his head then, a small smile on his lips when he stood up and followed her out of the room.

* * *

They all left early in the morning as scheduled. Dearka and Yzak were a tad grouchy, but the remaining two were wide awake. A storm had passed through the early part of the night, causing both Eclipse and Nicol some restless hours. “He’ll be fine,” they had to remind each other when they had ironically met in the hallway. “It’s just a little thunderstorm.” Dearka and Yzak had claimed they slept soundly through the whole ordeal, but they weren’t convincing even to Nicol and Eclipse. They were all worried in their own way.

They decided to go in hour shifts, two in the air, and two in the submarine. First off, the team checked the radar at port, hoping to catch sight of a distress signal, but the N-Jammers were messing with the airwaves, making it practically impossible to tell if something was a distress signal, or just a technical joke. Nothing definite, Nicol and Eclipse boarded one-man helicopters as Dearka and Yzak boarded and left with the submarine. They took off in opposite directions, but still being sure not to stray too far from the submarine. “Communications check,” Dearka said through his headset, standing near Yzak who was sitting at one of the consoles on the submarine bridge. He nodded down at his teammate when both redcoats replied with an affirmative.

The only thing left to do was look.

All four knew it was going to be difficult given the large search area. One, small mobile suit was hard to find and if Athrun was smart, he wouldn’t keep the Aegis in plain sight to attract any unwanted attention. They thought they had made some progress during the second hour when a distress signal was finally picked up, but it was the transport plane that had kicked Athrun out in the first place. Both pilots were relatively unharmed and quite angry about the whole ordeal.

Both Nicol and Eclipse switched with Dearka and Yzak once they were brought on board. The helicopters refueled, Dearka and Yzak took off with nothing more than grim nods, leaving the other two to settle in the transport pilots aboard the re-submerging submarine. Nicol was listening to their report over near the Blitz, offering them bottles of water as he wrote down what they were saying. They had only brought the Blitz and the Buster, two Guuls also docked and ready to be deployed if any hostiles appeared. Their primary goal was to retreat if anything should attack them, a stealth unit and a long-ranged one being the better of the choices. Eclipse had yet to even take the Stealth out, so she was still grounded and the carrier really only had room for one more. That would, ideally, be the Aegis.

Eclipse manned the communication line in the hangar near the suits, the redhead waiting for Nicol to be done before they both went to the bridge. Frustratingly, there was still nothing of interest. Unfortunately, with the radars on the fritz at the time, the carrier pilots who were transporting Athrun didn’t even know their own coordinates let alone where they had dropped the Aegis. Nicol sighed at that, but there wasn’t much he could do. He was just happy to know there was a chance Athrun was still alive. After all, the transport had downed the attacking aircraft. 

“What’s that, Dearka?” Eclipse asked, sending Nicol jogging to her side. She pushed one of the earpieces against her right ear. “Dearka, repeat.”

“I see some floating debris about two kilometers away and at your one o’clock, but nothing seems to be from the Aegis. I’m thinking it’s leftovers from the battle. There isn’t much of it and it’s pretty scarce. The storm could’ve washed this from anywhere.”

“So, we probably haven’t even reached the battle area yet?” Eclipse muttered.

Dearka sighed on the other end of the communication. “Looks like it. Any good news from those transport pilots?”

“No, nothing,” Nicol explained, stepping in to give his report. “Everything was too hectic to know any precise coordinates and the carrier’s too beat up to look in its computer filing. How about from Yzak?”

“Nothing from me either,” he replied dryly.

Nicol sighed and checked the console for the time. “It’s shift change anyway. Come on in and grab something to eat.”

“At least _that’s_ a bit of good news,” Dearka grumbled. Yzak made a similar remark and she sighed, leaning forward with both hands on the console as she put down her headphones.

“With the storm gone, we should be able to locate him easily,” Nicol remarked, biting on a fingernail.

“ _Should_ ,” Eclipse repeated. “Somehow I don’t think the Zala team has enough luck stored up for ‘should.’”

They all took a quick break and refueled the helicopters, changing pilots. Yzak took to the bridge to man the communications, and Dearka retreated back the transport pilots to ask a few more questions he had thought of during the meal. _Anything_ to help. 

Again, nothing to report.

Together Eclipse and Nicol had followed the debris trail Dearka had found, but—as they all suspected—it was only random blotches for the next four kilometers. Nothing looked to be from the Aegis, but there was no sign of an island or anything to land on safely either. 

Not very comforting.

“Yzak, I’m gonna try the airwaves again,” Nicol started, the exhaustion evident in his voice that time. “How’s the radar looking?”

“Still nothing, Nic—wait. Radar, what d’ya see?”

“It’s not strong, but it’s consistent, sir,” the soldier replied a couple of seats down from the Duel pilot.

“Where at?” Dearka asked, walking over and leaning in to try and get a look at the screen.

“About three kilometers south, southwest from our position, sir.”

“Nicol—”

“Heading over there now, Yzak. Eclipse, rendezvous.”

“Roger that. Nicol, still go on the airwaves. I’ll try on my end too.”

“Understood,” Nicol confirmed, a small bit of adrenaline pumping into his system. The end of their shift was fast approaching, but with such a discovery, there was no way he was just going to ignore it. “Athrun! Athrun, do you copy?” No response. The first seven attempts came back static as well, but there was no way they would quit. Eclipse spotted a ration bag in the water, offering some kind of comfort. At least they were headed in the right direction. “Athrun, can you hear me? Please respond!”

“Nicol, that you?” a voice replied, cutting in and out as the boy spoke, but it was definitely their lost teammate.

“Athrun! What a relief! We’ll get a fix on you from this transmission. Yzak—”

“Way ahead of you, Nicol. You and Eclipse hold your positions for now. We’ll feed you the information here pretty quick.” Yzak sighed, pulling off the headset and slinking down in his chair. “It’s about damn time.”

* * *

“You’re not going to make a habit of this, are you?” Eclipse muttered.

“I don’t plan on it, no,” Athrun scoffed, looking over at his redheaded comrade. Eclipse could tell that he was in a good mood, but why she honestly didn’t know. It had only been a few hours since Nicol and she found him and the Aegis on a small island literally in the middle of nowhere, but since then, he had been pretty calm and light-hearted. Yzak and Dearka had given him his full of insults when they arrived back in Carpentaria, but even after all of that, there was still the slightest hint of a smile on his lips.

The pilot had been ordered to check in at the infirmary even though he was, relatively, unharmed after the fall and day out on his own. He appeared to have a bullet graze on his right side, but she had decided not to ask, instead watching him carefully to see what he might give away when he realized she had seen the wound.

A shrug was all she received.

The doctor had asked to do a brief check up on Eclipse’s leg as well so they switched spots after Athrun was given the A-okay. She sat down on the cot, took off her right shoe, and rolled up her pant leg, the swelling having gone down enough that it was a rather easy process.

“Ah, looks much better,” the older doctor said, beginning the examination.

Athrun was fixing his jacket when he took the clipboard offered by the nurse. Eclipse twisted to get a good look at his face, still finding his apparent good mood odd. “You okay, sir?” she asked.

The remark had taken Athrun a second to realize she had been talking to him and he pointed at his face after he had signed the form. “Me?” She nodded. “Yeah, just a graze. Nothing to worry about.”

“Not health wise—well, physical health—I’m wondering why you seem… chipper? Is that the right word?”

He shrugged. “I just had an… interesting experience,” he admitted vaguely. She waited for him to continue and despite the painful twisting she was inflicting on her back and neck to see him, she was keen to hear his response. However, he didn’t seem to want to give one.

“What?” he asked.

“Never mind,” she muttered and shook her head, returning her body to a more comfortable position as the doctor finished.

“Right, healing nicely, I think,” the doctor said, standing and taking off his gloves as Eclipse rolled her pant leg back down. “I still want you to come back in a couple days for good measure.”

“Roger that,” she responded and bent down to tie her shoe as Athrun signed the next form offered him.

“Thanks for coming to find me, by the way,” he said after a quick nod to the doctor and the nurse as they left the room.

“You didn’t think we would?” she scoffed and looked at him again when she had finished tying the shoe and stood. He was smiling, a small grin, but a genuine one at least. In fact, it was almost sad. “Athrun, seriously, what happened?”

“Sorry, I’m just wondering why things have to be like they are. Why Junius 7 had to be destroyed, why the prototypes had to be stolen, why you have to chase SIN-ED, and why—” He stopped, and judging by the look on his face, he might have been trying to talk about Kira—the one Lacus had spoken so fondly of and the one Athrun was so troubled over. Instead, he shook his head. “How did things end up like this?”

“I think you’re asking the wrong person,” Eclipse admitted. “I really have no answers for you.”

“If we weren’t in ZAFT—weren’t fighting a war—what kind of people do you think we’d be?”

“Innocent, I suppose. Or at least as innocent as a teenager can be.”

That made him laugh a bit, but there was something still troubling him. He fumbled with the words for a moment, thinking things over in his head. “Are the Naturals really to blame?” There it was, the question that had probably been eating at him ever since he was found on that island. 

But what was the answer?

“What do _you_ think?” she stressed.

“But I’m asking you.”

“And I’m asking you because the only answer that matters, is yours. I can’t tell you what to think.”

Again, he smiled, and shook his head sadly. “You remind me of someone, y’know that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thanks for stopping by. This was one of the other chapters that kept me up at night, so I've been trying to work through it and get it up here. Not the greatest of edits (I think I can add more description on the search and rescue operation), but I think it's okay. I hadn't realized until I was going through it this time around that I had made the dialogue really confusing. I hope I cleaned that up a bit. 
> 
> Oh, this chapter was previously titled, "Acceptance," which was one of my least favorite titles, so I changed it. I also changed a lot of the team interactions too. They seem to be getting along a bit better now despite their rather rag-tag demeanor, so I kept a lot of the conversations. 
> 
> Not much more to say on this one, I'm afraid. I've been doing a lot of editing, actually and have finished probably at least three chapters beyond this. I'll get them up soon and thanks for your patience.
> 
> Onwards and upwards. See you all in the next chapter and thanks for taking a moment to pop by.
> 
> Strata


	33. Everything's a Piece of Shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First testing of the Stealth and the Zala team tries to get the Archangel before it enters Orb territory.

** Everything’s a Piece of Shit **

Athrun’s escapade—thank goodness—didn’t cause as much of an uproar as the team anticipated. Well, at least in the grand scheme of things. Yzak and Dearka went off every now and again, making a few jokes about the event, but that was normal, leaving the other three redcoats to wonder if they would ever change.

Eclipse grumbled about that on the way out to see her machine. Apparently, the mechanics had been so eager to see the Stealth they had been running random tests almost nonstop since they had landed. The good thing about the intervention was the little things on her suit that needed adjustment were—well—adjusted, but now she had to go back and make sure everything was up to her standards. 

After all, she was still a picky pilot. 

“Glad to see you finally showed up,” one of the mechanics yelled, motioning the redhead over to the computer. “Your suit is one fine piece of shit.”

“Is that a good piece of shit, or a bad piece of shit?” Eclipse asked, standing next to the younger guy. He had blonde and spiky—on the verge of comical—hair with fair skin and brown eyes. The rolled-up fabric on both his arms and legs only added to the sight, having him look more like a farm boy than a top mechanic. Actually, the redhead thought the look suited him.

“A good piece of shit, of course.”

“I never knew a ‘piece of shit’ to be a positive phrase.”

“You haven’t? Ever taken a dump?”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Dearka asked, reluctantly entering the conversation. He debated staying out of it—not really knowing why it was going in such a direction—but had a sudden ‘Prince Charming’ moment and felt he had to save the fair damsel.

Hah, don’t say that to her face.

“Nothing,” the redhead responded.

“Shit,” the mechanic said at the same time, smiling smugly about the whole ordeal. Extending a hand, he shook Dearka’s hand and then Eclipse’s. “Szell Dekker, kick ass mechanic and in your ass blunt.” His smile was priceless, on the verge of overly charming with innuendoes clenched between his pearly whites. 

Damn mechanics.

Both redcoats digested their inevitable migraines before they dared to respond to such an introduction. “Are you any way related to that mechanic at the Gibraltar base?” Eclipse asked, slowly seeing some similarities. If the language wasn’t enough of a giveaway.

“Yuppers, he’s my uncle.”

“Can I fire you?” She turned to Dearka for confirmation, but he merely shrugged.

“Hey now! I resent that. So, changing the subject away from my—uh—potential demotion, you wanna check out what we did to her?”

“Is she still a virgin?” Dearka asked, totally straight faced.

“Dear God, it’s spreading,” Eclipse groaned, turning away from the two in complete dismay. Holding a hand to her head she could just feel the pounding headache forming. And it was only 10 in the morning. 

“N-no, I-I mean you haven’t taken her out yet, right? Aw c’mon, stop looking at me like that! Is this your first test run?”

The redhead nodded slowly, not wanting to make any stupid remark and push the conversation any further down this ridiculous direction. The blond elite smiled, relief flashing across his face as soon as his point was made and even understood. This girl took things too literally sometimes. Frustrating all her comrades, of course. 

Eclipse—after digesting that entire conversation—really didn’t want to know what he did in his spare time.

And in the Buster for that matter.

“Yes, she’s still a virgin and ready to be taken for a ride. How about it?” Szell asked, the smile never leaving his fair lips.

If the redhead wasn’t so stunned, she would have knocked him senseless by this time. “Yes, I’ll be taking the Stealth out. Now, can we stop with all the sexual references? I’m really getting tired—”

“She’s taking her out everyone! Stealth will be ridden after all! Three cheers!”

 _I give up,_ Eclipse groaned, throwing her hands up in defeat.

Dearka couldn’t withhold his grin anymore, finding Eclipse’s frustration terribly amusing and the looks on the faces of the other soldiers was just as priceless. It had been a while since he had had that much fun. Well, other than making fun of Athrun. “I’ll man the computer from here, if you don’t mind me sticking around.”

“Sure—yes—please. Judging by the others here, you’re probably the only sane male in the hangar at the moment.”

“That might actually be a compliment.”

The redhead smiled and waited until the blond left to put a hand to her right ear. “Coffee Addict, status report.”

“Stealth reporting. Adjustments made to Scylla and the operating system is updated. Mirage Colloid is full and battery charged, but may be unstable. Energy output on beam sabers adjusted, may need more maintenance.”

“So, basically, the OS needs a lot of work.”

“Affirmative.”

Sighing, Eclipse cut the transmission and walked towards the lift. “Just let us know when you’re ready to take off,” Szell called from the hangar floor.

"I plan on making a few more adjustments to the OS and then take her out. Standby for now.”

“Roger that.”

 _At least they take orders well_ , she thought and pulled back the lever. Ascending, she took a quick look at the physical condition before jumping into the cockpit. _Things look all right from out here, but what the hell did they screw around with on the inside?_ The redhead paused and shook her head. _Oh my, now I’m going on with innuendoes._ “Coffee Addict, beginning maintenance.”

* * *

“Finally finished?” Dearka called from the floor computer, tapping impatiently on the keyboard. It had only been 15 minutes, but still the blond was getting bored just standing around waiting to begin the test run. He hadn’t bothered to check out the Stealth yet, so this was going to be his introductory course into the newest model based on the prototypes. 

“Just a few more minutes,” Eclipse replied, sticking her head out of the cockpit to answer and then disappearing back inside. 

Dearka could only sigh. Well, at least he had some time to actually _look_ at the Stealth. Yzak had been talking so highly about the suit, but it looked like nothing more than a mix of all the prototypes. It had the large firing capabilities of the Buster, the Mirage Colloid like the Blitz, the Scylla—although a small version of—like the Aegis, and the maneuverability of the Strike. The only machine not embedded into the unit was the Duel. _Maybe we’ll say the pilot is like the Duel’s. Yeah, that’s right; a real patchwork._

“Finished, detaching maintenance wires and battery cable.”

“Roger that, unhooking from down here as well,” Dearka responded, slipping on the headset near the console. “Communications check.”

“Feels like déjà vu,” Eclipse muttered from her end. “At least we have no AWOL commanders to chase after.”

“Amen to that. Did you want targets set up?”

“Nah, I’ll just check the maneuverability and HiMat wings. The OS is updated in here, so I’m assuming the weaponry works well.”

“Assuming might be a bad thing.”

“Trust isn’t always a bad thing, Dearka.” 

The blond just shrugged and watched the machine walk out the hangar door. He couldn’t argue against that. “Alright, systems check.”

“All systems normal, battery output acceptable. Ready on this end.”

“All green here. We’re following you out.”

“Roger that.” Eclipse walked the Stealth out towards the harbor, not willing to have any bystanders get in the way. Flipping a small switch on the control pad near her right hand, she initiated the HiMat system and could feel a small amount of excitement—or was it anxiety?—chill up her spine. Two, mechanical wings erupted from the Stealth’s back stretching behind the unit to about the same height as the mobile suit itself. Another switch and those wings opened, four, metal feathers breaking apart to make the mobile suit look like a crow against the fair sky in the background. 

“A fallen angel sounds so cliché,” Dearka muttered as he stared at the suit, but her next transmission pulled him away from his insistent gawking.

“Stealth heading out.”

“Roger that, Stealth, you’re clear, but Eclipse, be careful, alright? I don’t trust this new flying system. It may look flashy but—”

“That’s what these test runs are for, now stop being a pansy,” the redhead retorted, however, she couldn’t blame him. She was having her doubts about this flimsy wing system as well, but would never let it show like Dearka had. 

And she was the one in the cockpit.

Stepping down on the pedal, the thrusters powered up, lifting the machine into the air in the matter of seconds. Holding her breath, Eclipse steadied herself at about 500 feet, awaiting the sudden plummet back to earth. Luckily, that never happened, the individual feathers emitting their own thrusters and making small adjustments according to the air currents. “So, it works?”

“You doubted it?” Szell asked from the other end of the transmission. 

The redhead just ignored him. “Dearka, how do things look from down there?”

“Everything looks normal. Try to do some simple maneuvers.”

“Affirmative.” Taking his advice, she pushed forward and did some zigzag moves along with some other ascent and descent tricks to make sure everything was working correctly. And things were still normal. “Alright, time to have a bit of fun.”

“Huh?” the blond asked.

“Stealth is getting creative.”

“Heh, roger that.” Dearka chuckled, leaning sidelong on the console and watching the screens. If anything went wrong, he would be the first to know, but the amusing remarks Eclipse made from the cockpit were just as interesting. Her maneuvering wasn’t half bad either—some mechanics even whistling in appreciation—but when the screens started flashing red, they all had to break out of their daze. “Eclipse, your altitude—“

“Boosters failed. Battery life running low. Damnit, what happened?” Fiddling with the controls, the redhead brought up the OS. “Transferring energy from—Ah! Shit!”

“Initiate the Hydrogen Fuel Cell!”

“I’m working on it!” Eclipse hissed. “Coffee Addict, maintain altitude. In—”

“The Stealth’s still falling,” Szell reported, pulling the binoculars from his eyes. Leave it to him to state the obvious and in such an unprofessional way. He sounded almost amused. “Well, at least she’s over water.”

“Can’t you be a _little_ more serious?” Dearka spat, typing vigorously on the console.

“Why? It’s like she said, this is what test runs are for. Well,” the mechanic began, sighing when the Stealth hit the water, issuing a tidal wave that may have been pretty in any other situation. “This might be the first time we’ve had to repair a mobile suit _before_ it went into battle.”

“This is ridiculous,” the blond groaned, never even noticing the suit go down until Szell had opened his big mouth. “She’s gonna be pissed.”

* * *

Eclipse glared at the young commander, cursing the hour he came in to "check up” on her and the Stealth. The only thing they had been doing since he walked into the hangar was argue; argue on how the Stealth was supposed to be programmed, why the test run failed so miserably, and how much trouble this was going to cause him as her superior officer.

Damn frustrating.

Athrun had walked into the hangar just as the Stealth was pulled out of the harbor and standing back against the wall for repairs. Neither Dearka nor Eclipse knew why he had decided to come in and observe, but it had been Hell ever since he walked over to the controls. Dearka, wanting nothing to do with some touchy redcoats, had retreated back to his room for a nap. Eclipse had almost begged him to stay—not wanting to confront their commander alone when he was in such a foul mood—but he had snuck off too soon. Even Szell muttered something and fled to fix another machine. _Cowards._

"I _said_ this should be like this," Athrun muttered, pulling the keyboard away from the redhead and typing in another sequence.

Eclipse knew why she was so pissed off—blame a failed test run—but the pilot’s attitude seemed out of the blue. _Maybe he’s just exhausted,_ she decided, but nearly screamed a second later when he basically changed all her adjustments. _Or he’s just looking to get killed._ "What’re you doing? I just did that, but my way was faster. Here, look."

"No, no. You miss so many other things when you take shortcuts—"

"No offense, _sir_ , but I've been doing it this way for the past year and the machines have been running just fine. If you'll just let me—"

"Yes, it may work like this on the battlefield, but when you finally have time to sit back and relax, going through the whole thing will help you out so much more," Athrun explained, beginning to redo the entire OS.

Eclipse glared on his right, standing stubbornly with her arms across her chest and a foot tapping impatiently on the floor. It was a good thing they were at ground level or his remains would have been rotting on the cement by then. "Is this a good time for me to tell you I've been doing shortcuts on your Aegis ever since I started taking care of the thing?"

"You what?"

"Yeah, back in space, I really didn't give a damn if there was one more zero in the sequence or not. So, tell me, how's it been running since then?"

"If I said 'like shit' would you believe me?"

"Like what?" she screeched, her fists now curling into fists at her side. If he didn't start thinking before he talked, this pilot was going to get a good whooping. She didn't care if he was technically in charge now.

"Hey there, what’cha doing?" Nicol asked, walking up to the duo quite cheerfully, however, as soon as he saw the scowls on their faces, that cheerful disposition faded immediately. Leave it to those two to suck the happiness out of the world. "Okay, I guess I won't—"

"No, you won't ask and just get this dickhead away from my machine!"

"Dickhead? _You’re_ the one who can't take advice!" Athrun countered, pulling himself away from the keyboard to stand face-to-face with the redhead. "I mention one or two helpful things—"

"More like force them on me!"

"Uh, guys—" Nicol began, but was cut off by another response from Athrun. By now, the two had gathered quite an audience, some were pointing and laughing, while others just shook their heads in embarrassment. This was a commander and one of his soldiers? "Guys, please—"

"Damnit Eclipse, you're beginning to act like Yzak more and more each day!”

"Well, that's fine with me. At least he has the balls to stand up to you.”

"What was that?"

"Enough!" Nicol shouted, putting an arm in between them and pulling the duo apart when they managed to get even closer. Some soldiers began laughing loudly, but not even that humiliation could make the two stop glaring at each other. "This is ridiculous. And you guys call yourselves elites? C'mon, we're getting away from here."

"No, we're not, Nicol. I have a lot to do—" they both started simultaneously, but another glare by the musician kept them quiet.

"No, we're leaving this place and getting some fresh air," Nicol spat, surprising both of his teammates with the finality in his voice. Blinking, they were still too shocked to resist as he pulled the two out of the hangar and all the way back to headquarters.

Stopping at their rooms individually, he shoved each inside. "Now, get changed, both of you. We're going into town. I'll change and get permission. No arguing!" he shouted a second later when he saw them open their mouths to retaliate. "We're going and that's that. Now, get dressed damnit!" That shut them up and when the younger pilot stomped off down the hall and slammed the door to his room, Athrun and Eclipse gave each other a surprising glance. Although, that didn't last long before the glare returned and they ended up slamming their doors as well.

Nicol was changed and had already gotten permission by the time the two walked out into the hallway. He wore dark, khaki pants with white tennis shoes that had—surprisingly—stayed their bright color through their three years of use. Given the chill in the air, he decided to put on a light green, long-sleeved shirt and topped it off with a black, zipped up vest. Athrun walked out next, wearing a pair of loose jeans and running shoes with a blue T-shirt and a short, black coat to keep out the cool air. Glowering, he barely looked up at his friend, choosing to lean back against the wall.

Eclipse came out a few moments later, sporting jeans, a green T-shirt and a blue, zip-up sweatshirt. Surprising both guys, she wore high, khaki boots, ending about mid-calf and looking rather trendy with ties laced up the front. Her short hair was flipped out casually to the sides, making her actually look... feminine.

"Uh, Eclipse you look—well—uh—" Nicol stammered, being the first to say anything when she walked out.

The redhead glared a response, seeming to not want him to finish that statement, but Athrun—still a bit peeved—added in his own thoughts.

"You actually look like a girl."

That did it.

"Why you fuckin’ smartass—"

"Alright, let’s go," Nicol countered, stepping between the two. "I'd rather not get into another argument."

"Fine. Where are we going?" the young commander muttered, pivoting on his heels and leading the others back down the hallway before the musician could respond.

"Well, then let me _show_ you," Nicol said, grabbing the back of Athrun's coat and pulling him to the rear.

It was going to be a long walk.

* * *

“Tea, really? How regal,” Eclipse muttered, trying not to let the anger get the best of her, but she had lost that particular battle, it seemed. Nicol had led them both to a small café on the outskirts of town, having to shove them both inside as soon as they had gotten there. They were going to leave right away, but the musician offered to pay, got their orders, and then had sat them down in a table near the middle of the room. Probably hoping their prides wouldn’t let them make a spectacle of themselves.

The café was large enough to seat 15-odd people and had a rather homely atmosphere. Only half of the room was tables while the other half had two sofas face each other and two other comfortable loungers nearby. Wooden bookshelves lined each wall other than the one behind the counter which was covered from floor to ceiling with plastic containers housing various coffee beans. An open stairwell swirled up the wall in the back-right corner near the bathrooms to a second floor and more tables, Eclipse assumed. The other surprising feature was the piano in the back and to the left of the main counter, the back open and facing into the café to give the current guests the full immersion of any melody someone should attempt. It looked so out of the way that the redhead wasn’t sure it was usable, but, sure enough, someone sat down and started playing a tune just as her argument resumed with the young commander.

“What’s so bad about that?” Athrun responded, taking a careful sip and licking his lips.

“Seems pretentious. This place is known for its coffee—says so on the front,” the redhead continued as she absently stirred her latte. “So… you order tea.”

“Didn’t want coffee and there’s nothing that says I can’t have tea.”

“Oh, that’s rich, going by the book again.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why does it matter if didn’t get coffee or not? Damn, just because Commander Waltfeld—”

“Guys, I really don’t—” Nicol started, but could only sigh when Eclipse cut him off. Taking a sip of his mocha, he slouched down in his chair and muttered a prayer.

It didn’t work.

“Hey, that guy was a genius.”

“I’m not saying he wasn’t. I’m saying that’s the only reason you’re bugging me for getting tea.”

“No, I’m ‘bugging’ you because we’re sitting in a famous _coffee_ café and you ordered something _without_ coffee.”

“Honestly guys, please—” the musician tried again. Still, futile.

“Who cares? It was on the menu, wasn’t it?”

“Damn it all, you’re insufferable!”

“Well, as I recall, you’re the reason your _precious_ coffee genius is dead, so I’ll take being insufferable any day.”

 _Ah shit,_ Nicol thought with a sigh, trying to digest the emotions crossing each of their faces. Athrun’s frustration had gone too far and Eclipse was just too touchy to let any of his insults brush by. And now it had come to this. 

The redhead was rather surprised about the comment, but anger won over as the chief emotion. Scowling, she instinctively grabbed her coffee mug and threw its contents at the pilot across from her. Nicol managed to dodge the droplets that went off-target but Athrun—as intended—got the bulk of the attack. Making some inaudible noise close to a gasp, he jumped to his feet too late and caught most of the beverage on his chest and stomach. 

At least it wasn’t smoldering hot anymore.

“I hope that jacket is dry clean only,” Eclipse muttered before stomping off to the bathroom.

“W-what the hell?” Athrun stammered, but in the back of his mind, he knew it was his fault. Grumbling, he accepted the napkins from Nicol and tried to dry himself off. “Damn girl.”

“You brought it on yourself,” the musician replied, getting up to grab the towel offered by the server at the main counter. He just tossed it at the young commander.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Stifling a laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, Nicol glanced about the room and saw some hidden smiles among the other customers. Many girls were outright laughing and some men were eyeing their dates suspiciously, probably debating if they would do the same thing.

“Damn it all. Me and my big mouth,” Athrun grumbled again.

"What started this huge argument anyway? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two so pissed at each other.”

“Well, it was probably my fault to begin with. Eclipse and Dearka were giving the Stealth a test run and I dropped in. My original plan was to get some fresh air and stop reading reports for a while, but I saw what they were doing and thought I could help. Dearka had everything under control up to that point, but when Eclipse came back in, I sort of decided to jump in and start helping her with the adjustments. We began talking about the reports, some personal things she artlessly evaded, one response led to another and we ended up venting our frustration out on each other. Now, I’m covered in coffee.”

“Hm, you’re right. It _was_ your fault then.”

“Thanks for the sympathy.” Athrun sighed, peeling the shirt away from his chest a few inches before the elasticity slapped it back with a sick, squishing sound. 

Nicol could only laugh.

* * *

 _I shouldn’t be so angry at him_ , Eclipse admitted as she looked into the bathroom mirror. _He’s probably stressed out and I’m just making things worse, not to mention making him look bad because he is my commanding officer._ Sighing, she turned on the faucet and started washing her hands. _And poor Nicol. He just wanted a nice coffee break and we’re acting like four-year-olds. I should go apologize at least._ She grabbed some paper towel, wiped her hands dry, and then grasped the door handle, but stopped before opening it. Piano music sounded on the other side, muffled because of the walls, but still beautiful. _Nicol?_ she thought, smiling slightly. She had always wanted to hear him play. Just the richness of the melody made her shiver, never hearing that particular song before and as soon as he added the lower accompaniment, she couldn’t stop the grin on her face. Opening the door, she stared across the room.

Her intuition was right again when she saw the young musician sitting behind the keys. She couldn’t see much of him, his form hidden by a large portion of the counter, but his body swayed on the seat as he played, following his left hand to the bottom of the keyboard and then back up with his right hand. 

Athrun leaned forward on the table as he watched Nicol, his hand resting on his upright palm and when he saw Eclipse, he smiled sheepishly. It seemed they were both sorry.

The redhead paused to watch him play for a moment before retaking her seat, sitting down across from her other comrade. “I’m sorry,” she admitted first. “Drinking tea is fine. Not everyone has to be obsessed with espresso like me.”

“Heh, thanks. And what happened in Banadiya was not your fault,” Athrun said as he took a sip of his approved beverage.

“Yeah, I know. Nicol already drilled that into my head.”

“Well, he’s an intuitive guy.”

“And talented. I’ll have to ask him to teach me the piano when all of this is over.”

“Hah, and I’ll laugh as you flounder over the keys,” Athrun joked, receiving a glare in return, but there was a smile under that anger.

“I’d like to see _you_ try. I, at least, have _some_ musical talent.”

“Bragging now, are we?”

“Just drink your damn tea.”

Nicol smiled from across the way, glad to see that things had calmed down. It was impressive to note the changes Eclipse had gone through in the past few months. A while ago, he wouldn’t never though this possible—the three of them enjoying a day out in the town. Hell, her and Athrun had always argued, but even the young commander had changed a bit. He seemed more comfortable—or maybe even confident—in his position. Athrun had confessed to Nicol about Kira, but perhaps the young commander had finally come to a conclusion in his own mind. What that decision was, however, the musician didn’t know. But, despite that apparent revelation, something else in him had changed. Athrun had also told him a little about this island excursion and the main thing he talked about was that girl Cagalli. Infatuation wasn’t a good word to describe how he talked about her, but he was definitely intrigued. _Ah, Athrun. What’s going on in that head of yours?_

* * *

“Alright, we finally got news about the ‘Legged Ship’s’ whereabouts,” Athrun began, flipping off the lights as a map projected on the screen next to him.

“Well, we’ve always known _where_ it was, but we never seem to get there in time,” Yzak grumbled, sifting uncomfortably in his chair. “Take our submarine excursion for example.”

The others sighed, but this time it wasn’t for the pilot’s lack of respect. There was another _Archange_ _l_ sighting about eight days prior—a couple of days after Nicol’s impromptu café trip—and they were all ready to go, but the submarine they had boarded suffered some malfunctions. So, in the end, they had gotten to the battle too late.

How ironic.

 _We just have really bad luck_ , Eclipse had decided when Athrun had relayed the embarrassing report. Yzak had been upset—surprisingly, not as bad as he used to be—but the others hadn’t said much.

“Yeah really… I’m actually shocked we haven’t found them sooner,” Dearka chimed in, folding his hands behind his head. “It’s been rather dull for the past week.”

Eclipse had to agree. SIN-ED seemed to disappear and Namarra had been silent. The redhead had debated sending her a message and ask her if she had heard anything on the organization, but dropped the idea, deciding to enjoy her short moment of peace.

Well, it was peaceful if no one argued.

“ZAFT has been going through a lot of changes lately, not to mention, many of the soldiers here are working on Operation SpitBreak. Unfortunately, the ‘Legged Ship’ isn’t a top priority for them like it is for us,” Athrun explained.

“Yeah, you have a point.” For a few seconds, the team was speechless. Did Yzak just agree with Athrun? “What?”

“Nothing,” Nicol said, deciding to turn the conversation back to the _Archangel_. “Where’s the ship, Athrun?”

“It was by the Strait of Malacca the last time we got an update, so it should be—” Pointing to the screen, the officer dragged a possible path across the map. “—somewhere near the Fiji islands; heading near Orb.”

“By Orb?” Eclipse asked. “Are they insane? I’m sure we all know where they stand in this war.”

“The same could be said for us. By the time we meet them, we’ll be dangerously close to Orb territory. Here’s a question, do we confront them before they get close to Orb, or hope to get them after? Are we positive they don’t have some, secret agenda in that country? They are from Heliopolis,” Yzak brought up, feeling a bit superior by his observation and he had a right to. It was a disturbing revelation.

“Well, if we stop them before Orb,” Athrun began, “perhaps we can push them away—”

“Or push them towards the country and use Orb’s strength to help us sink them?” Eclipse suggested.

“Cowardly,” Yzak countered immediately.

“Possible,” Nicol added.

“Suicidal,” Dearka finished. “Orb’ll fire on us too.”

“True, but we’re not as big of a target as the ‘Legged Ship’ is,” Eclipse continued. “We’re fast enough to get away. After all, we’ll all be on Guuls, or at least attempting to fly by ourselves.”

“That’s _if_ we don’t get shot down first,” the blond stressed, receiving quite a few glares for his realistic remark.

“He’s got a point,” Athrun added, getting the butt of the glares now. “Orb is very powerful.” 

“Well, what if we didn’t worry about firepower? Wait, here me out,” Nicol began, waving off the surprised looks by his comrades. “We all know how strong Orb is, and we know their neutral state, so—putting all that aside—is this the only opportunity to get the ‘Legged Ship’ before it reaches Alaska?”

“Before it reaches Alaska, no, but we don’t know if they are actually heading to Orb to restock on food and weaponry,” Athrun explained, leaning back against the wall near the screen. He honestly didn’t think this briefing would take so long let alone go into so many different directions. However, he really didn’t mind. They were all bringing up good points, and ones that made him quite proud. He had a capable team.

The only problem was getting them all to work together.

“Does their current course support this?” Yzak asked.

“We don’t know their course exactly, only their whereabouts. Also, since the battle at the Strait of Malacca, they’ll probably stick to shallower waters so as not to get snuck up on again,” Athrun continued.

“So, they could be heading to Orb, or they couldn’t be?” Dearka asked, sighing as he scratched the back of his head. They were just going in circles. 

“I don’t know about you,” Yzak chimed in, “but I don’t want to take that chance. I say we get them _before_ they reach Orb.”

“I second that,” Dearka added.

“They won’t restock in Orb,” Eclipse said, sounding quite confident in the statement. “I know that country, they wouldn’t jeopardize everything for one ship, even if they did build it.”

"So, we’re back to square one?” Everyone grew silent after Nicol’s remark, each issuing a small sigh of exhaustion. There were just too many things that could go wrong with whichever path they chose to take. The fact that they knew nothing of the _Archangel_ ’s and Orb’s plans made everything worse. Were they in cahoots? And if so, would attacking the ship before it reached the neutral nation be suicide for the Zala team? But what if the ship was trying to avoid that country as well? Would attacking them right away—thus initiating Orb into the battle—actually work to ZAFT’s advantage?

“We’ll attack them before they reach Orb,” Athrun ordered, having the final—and official—say in the matter. “We can’t just pass by this opportunity no matter what we think Orb will or won’t do. Now, get all you stuff together, we’ll leave as soon as the next carrier submarine is ready.”

“Yes, sir!”

* * *

As planned, the Zala team caught up with the _Archangel_ about six miles from the Orb territory. The ship looked a little worn, most likely from the recent battle it was put through. _That may mean they’re low on ammo,_ Athrun thought, having thought about it during the briefing, but felt there was no need to mention it. There was no reason to rely on such suspicions. No matter what, they had to fight the _Archangel_ with everything they had because—after all—it was still a formidable enemy. “All suits launch as soon as the submarine surfaces, Yzak and Dearka, center your attacks on the starboard side. Nicol and Eclipse on the port side. I’ll focus on the front and lure the Strike out into the open.”

“As soon as the Strike’s out, I’m taking over,” Yzak announced, flipping a few more levers on his console. 

“We’ll worry about that as soon as we get that far,” the commander replied. “Oh, and Eclipse, how did the final adjustments to the HiMat system end up?”

“Should be working now, sir, although I’m a bit too scarred from my first experience to trust the system completely.”

“We don’t have another Guul for you to board, so you’re gonna have to trust the mechanics a little bit more.”

“Fair enough. I don’t think they would let me down… Heading out.”

The _Archangel_ was ready for them, but not as much as they were for the ZAFT forces at the Strait of Malacca. After the island escapade, they were down one Skygrasper and relying on less than a comfortable amount of ammo. Not surprising for a lone battleship, but now having to face five, high-speed mobile suits with only two units and some armaments no doubt made everyone nervous.

“What do you think you’re doing, Dearka?” Yzak complained, having just evaded some rear missiles launched by the _Archangel_. “Hurry up and stop that ship now!”

“I know!” the blond replied heatedly, not enjoying being the emotional dumping ground. He had already fired three, well-aimed shots and destroyed three Igelstellungs along with scarring the outer armor on the ship. “It’s not easy evading all this fire power!”

“Dearka, you have the best shot on our team. I’ll provide cover if you just clip off those guns,” Eclipse suggested, flying next to the Buster and destroying some stray missiles that came nearby. 

Waiting for the smoke to clear from the small explosions, he unhooked his rifle. “Sounds like a plan.” He straddled the gun launcher and high-energy rifle at the suit’s hips and fired two separate rounds into a port side Igelstellung and Valliant gun. The Igelstellung was destroyed—along with scarring another nearby—but the Valliant was a little more resistant, only suffering minor damage. “Eclipse, missiles approaching from my nine o’clock.”

“I’m on it. Let’s swing around to the back and cut the engines before—damnit, that plane is buzzing about now,” the redhead spat, firing her CIWS guns to destroy three of the five missiles and armed her saber to cross slash the last two before the Skygrasper flew in. Hoping to take advantage of her distracted state of mind, it fired the impulse cannon mounted on the bottom of the plane. The mobile armor missed the Stealth’s right side, but due to the trajectory, the shots nearly hit the Buster on its downward ascent to the _Archangel_. “Damnit! Dearka, incoming from your six.”

“I see him.”

“Eclipse, move!” Nicol shouted over the same frequency, causing the redhead to turn her unit just in time to see two barrels of the ship’s Gottfried cannons aimed at her backside. The barrels surged with green energy, sucking in the oxygen from outside to gather enough firepower to shoot and—hopefully—destroy the Stealth in one, clean shot. 

However, things weren’t that easy.

Cursing, she cut her thrusters and dropped quickly, evading the gunfire, but not without suffering some minor paint damage. Eclipse didn’t really like Earth until that moment, and especially the gravitational force that kept her from getting her backside fried. This ship was definitely more formidable than she remembered in outer space. The redhead turned her thrusters on again before she hit the water, skidding across the waves and out wide to avoid the Strike’s persistent gunfire. _I hate this ship._

“Yzak, don’t go too far out!” Athrun ordered, having to evade a few missiles of his own. So far, none of the redcoats had lost their edge on the Guuls, but given the hotheadedness of one team member, such a blessing wasn’t going to last long. 

“Shut up!” that same hothead shouted, causing a scowl to grace the commander’s lips. 

They were doing okay. Eclipse providing cover for Dearka—even if it was for a short time—had cut down the _Archangel_ ’s defenses, but not enough to start uncorking the champagne bottle. They had to cripple it even more. “Try and aim for the engines. Nicol, flank them on the port side.”

“Roger that, Athrun.” 

"Eclipse, how’s the HiMat?” the commander asked, firing at two more Igelstellungs.

“Working better than expected.”

“Good, support Nicol.”

“Right.” 

The Blitz and the Stealth sped to the port side. Sheathing her beam saber and pulling out her rifle, Eclipse attacked the missile launcher on the tail of the ship just as it was about to open another round on the redcoats. Only two of the six barrels took severe damage, but that was enough to cause some internal malfunctions and hinder later attacks. But Eclipse knew that wasn’t enough. To finish the job, she pulled out her beam saber again and was going to sever the contraption altogether, but that annoying fly fired and cut her off. Nicol fared better, launching his lancer darts at the Valiant gun—damaging it enough to kick it out of the game and fall off the ship—before moving to the engines. Eclipse tried to meet him there, but neither got close enough to cause any damage. The _Archangel_ fired its Helldarts from behind the bridge, frustrating the two pilots and forcing them to fall back in order to destroy them all safely. 

Athrun had had his share of sitting back, but when he saw the Strike on the bow of the ship, he couldn’t remain idle any longer. They promised each other they wouldn’t hold back, so it was time to see who was ultimately supposed to win. Diving his Guul towards the _Archangel,_ he fired a mere three shots at the Strike before the Duel cut him off. “Stay back, Athrun, I’m gonna get this guy!”

“Yzak, don’t be reckless,” the commander yelled through the transmission after seeing the Duel’s high-speed attack. It didn’t even look like he was attempting evasive maneuvers. “You _know_ it’s not that easy!”

Either the pilot didn’t hear him, or Athrun had said it too late. The Strike aimed and fired at the Duel’s Guul, destroying the contraption in a display of billowing heat and debris before forcing the redcoat to jump off so the explosion didn’t damage his machine. _Damnit_ , the boy thought, unsheathing his beam saber and prepare himself to dive bomb onto the _Archangel_ to engage with the Strike. His plans, however, were thwarted when that same unit used the Duel as a stepping stool.

“Yzak!” Nicol yelled from above him, having come around to give his comrade some support. It was a good thought, but having the extra lift from the Duel, the Strike was able to bridge the distance between the two suits and knock the Blitz off its Guul. Nicol cursed silently, but only managed one shot at the unit—one that went wide—as it destroyed the flying machine with its beam saber and fell back to the _Archangel_. 

“Yzak! Nicol!” Eclipse yelled, but knew they would fine as soon as they were under water. Their carrier submarine wasn’t far away, after all. _Damnit, he’s gotten better!_ Eclipse thought, dodging one of his shots to the right before turning a 360 and colliding sword to sword with the Strike. Deciding to avenge her fallen comrades, the best bet was to meet that prototype hand-to-hand and hopefully catch him off balance from his little escapade with the Duel’s face. The flat expanse under the bridge was a good enough place as any. “Well, I don’t care how good you’ve gotten, kid. You’re facing me in my own suit now!” The words were for her alone and seeing as the two swords were at a stalemate, the redhead wasted no time in turning the attack downward. Pivoting on her right foot, she spun her left leg around and kicked the side of the Strike, sending the machine flying into the wing of the _Archangel_. Regaining balance, she grabbed an EARP dagger from her right hip and threw it towards the prototype, not planning on hitting it, but at least throwing the pilot into a frenzy.

It worked.

The Strike evaded the tossed dagger to the right, the smaller explosion when it hit the _Archangel_ forcing him off balance and into the lower bridge. His head was spinning, but still retained enough consciousness to avoid a serious blow. At least for now. Eclipse leapt towards him, spearing her left, GINN sword into his left shoulder—trapping him firmly against the ship—and putting her right hand on the machine’s chest. “Activating Scylla,” she announced, smirking as she felt the controls tingle with electric energy. Perhaps the change had been a good one for her suit and just imagining the look of pure terror etched on the pilot’s face made everything worth while. _Sorry, Athrun, but, in the end, we can’t save everyone._

“Enemy three o’clock,” Coffee Addict announced into her ear and she turned to see the Skygrasper. It peppered her with a barrage of machine gun bullets, Eclipse having no other choice than to abandon her advantage, leaping off the Strike and back 50 meters.

“Why you—” Stopping the Scylla’s attack, she pulled out her beam rifle to try and clip the machine as it sped away. Her shots went wide, but when she saw the Buster flying by to intercept, she let him do it. Besides, the Strike seemed to have regained its bearings. 

She really wished she could see what was going on in the cockpit because despite his near brushing with death, the Strike looked almost cocky as it prepared for another attack. Eclipse just laughed.

The Berserker was pretty confident too.

The Strike pulled out his remaining beam saber from behind his abandoned shield, standing defensively as the Stealth charged forward with the beam saber in her right hand. “Now, this is cute,” the Berserker began, laughing to herself as he barely managed to parry her thrust near his damaged shoulder. “You’re so confident and yet you were so weak as to let me get this close in the first place.” She smirked, talking to the pilot as if he could hear. Spinning, she blocked his attack with the buckler on her left arm, sending the sword wide and coming in with a jab from below. He just jumped out of the way. “You do realize we’re right below the bridge, right? Just one shot—” she emphasized, jabbing the sword at the Strike’s head. The blade went clear through the machine’s left eye, crippling his cameras. She laughed again as she saw the energy from the saber slowly melting away the metal. Such a memorable picture. “Just one shot and your ship is gone.”

It was almost as if the pilot could hear her, yanking out the blade as he made one last charge. Using his limp, left arm as a shield, he swung it wildly out in front of him, forcing Eclipse to block that attack and take the careless strike from the beam saber in his right hand. The blade barely missed her side, but sliced through two feathers on her left side, severing them.

“HiMat system 33 percent damaged. Switching to alternate modes of transportation,” the Stealth reported, but Eclipse ignored it. The attack had left the Strike wide open. Grabbing the limp arm, she threw the machine towards the bow of the ship and took a second to watch it dangle over the edge. 

Sweet victory.

The Skygrasper had returned then, flying towards the Stealth again, but never managing to get off an attack. The Buster clipped his right wing just as he was going to fire. It wasn’t an accurate enough shot to down the plane, but the pilot was forced to steer away from the Berserker.

“Thanks, Dearka,” she managed, but had to laugh a second later when a stray shot from the _Archangel_ nearly damaged the blond’s Guul. By this time, the Orb fleet had come to its borders, making some speech about its right to defend itself if either army came any further. Eclipse ignored them. 

Adjusting her thrusters and pulling out her beam rifle, she couldn’t stop the smirk from curling up her lips. This was her chance to get revenge for Commander Waltfeld and Aisha. Even though it was off-handedly, this damned ship had caused their untimely deaths and just destroying the Strike wasn’t going to make her feel any better. No, she had to get rid of them all, and this was her chance. Just one shot and so many wrongs would be paid for. Yzak’s revenge, and ultimately her team’s revenge would be enacted. 

All she had to do was pull the trigger.

“…we strictly prohibit all armed ships, aircraft, and mobile suits from entering our waters…” the Orb commander muttered over a universal communication line. But it was all too late.

 _See you in Hell,_ Archangel. _Hah, such an ironic phrase._ Leveling the gun, she aimed it at the captain’s seat on the bridge, taking that extra moment to watch the crew members squirm in their seats. 

“…This is your final warning…”

Some jumped up and ran for the doors, while most of them merely stared in horror, or cowered in their seats. The Berserker could just see their fondest memories erupting and disappearing before their very eyes, giving them a last bit of hope before their bodies became dispersed among the debris. Sweat drops, tears, screams; none of it mattered. Rubble and burnt fish food was their destiny; to remain scattered without a face, an identity, or even a body. A water grave for the ones soulless enough to attack those close to a Berserker. They all knew it, wish they could’ve changed it, but couldn’t stop it. Smirking, her lifeless eyes glimmered with excitement as she pulled the trigger.

But stopped.

Another girl had just entered the bridge, her cool demeanor offsetting the ghastly looks of her crew members. She wore a red T-shirt and cotton, khaki pants, but the things that were most familiar were her blonde hair and golden eyes. “Cagalli,” Eclipse breathed, her other half fleeing in time to cease the attack. “So you’re—” 

The Strike had started moving again as she hesitated and fired reckless shots at the backside of the Stealth. Two attacks clipped the remaining feathers on her left side—not enough to totally sever them—and the last shot hit the thruster on her back. Cursing, she had no other choice than to bail into the water and sink back to the submarine with her other teammates.

She failed.

_Maybe—in the end—I shouldn’t have changed, Nicol. Commander, I’m so sorry._

* * *

“This announcement is nothing but a pile of crap!” Yzak shouted as he slammed the piece of paper down on the table. The mission had failed and the _Archangel_ was still afloat—or so they figured. The only thing throwing that theory off was the “official statement” made by the Orb government. 

“I can’t believe they’re actually telling us the ‘Legged Ship’ has left Orb territory,” Dearka muttered from the corner. Him and Nicol sat side by side as the other five in the room—Athrun, Yzak, Eclipse, the captain, and second-in-command of the submarine—stood around them. 

The redhead could only sigh, shaking her head and leaning against the wall. She was still upset about her missed opportunity. If she hadn’t have been so cowardly, none of this may have happened. Now, the _Archangel_ was probably under the protection of Orb instead of sinking to the bottom of the ocean. 

“That’s their solution?” Dearka continued. “They’re treating us like complete fools! Maybe it’s because we have a _raw_ commander.”

“Dearka!” Nicol spat, igniting a scowl on the musician’s fair face. Even Eclipse looked pissed, but the one the remark was aimed at didn’t seem bothered in the least.

“That’s irrelevant,” Athrun said. “But, unfortunately, you can’t deny this is Orb’s official response. So, you can complain all you like about how they’re a bunch of liars, but it’s not going to change the situation we’re in.”

“Say what?” Yzak chimed in, taking a threatening step forward. 

Eclipse was off the wall and ready to intercept the hothead, but just one look by Athrun kept her still. _Yeah, yeah, you can protect yourself,_ she thought with a snort. _Just didn’t want things to get that far._

“If we forced our way in, it’d only turn into a diplomatic scandal,” Athrun explained. 

The room paused for a few moments as it digested the idea. Yes, they couldn’t just march into Orb and declare the _Archangel_ was there without any hard evidence, even if they were sure it was docked inside. As soon as Orb made that announcement—no matter how absurd it was—the situation went beyond just two armies fighting one another. Now it involved politics.

Damn it.

“Heh,” Yzak chuckled, breaking the silence. “Your analysis is impressively rational, Athrun—oops, _Commander_ Zala.”

Ignoring the comment, Dearka continued with a few thoughts of his own. “Hold on there. Are you saying we have to accept their word and just leave?” It even sounded foolish to the others in the room. After all they’ve been through to get this far, they had to retreat back to headquarters? After yet _another_ embarrassment?

“We’ll ask Carpentaria to apply some official pressure, but if there’s no quick resolution, we’ll sneak in.” That was a surprise. Athrun, the supposed nice guy on the team, was going to suggest something so malicious? “Does that meet with your approval?”

 _Perfect_ , Eclipse thought with a small smirk. _Now that’s an interesting proposition._

“Oh, to pinpoint the ship’s location, right?” Nicol added, catching on.

"Yes, because whatever the situation is, our opponent here is a sovereign nation. We can’t take any hasty action against it without evidence of some sort.” Eclipse was really starting to like where Athrun was going with this. Perhaps he read a little too many of her personal files.

“Look, we can just force our way in,” Dearka said, apparently not liking the idea. “We know the ship’s there.”

“This is nothing like Heliopolis!” Athrun shouted. It was obvious he was sore about what had happened before, but why the sudden emotional attraction? Nicol had an idea and one look between him and Eclipse gave her a small hint as well. What the hell happened on that island? “Just look at the size of their forces, and I don’t have to you how advanced their military technology is. Officially, they’re neutral, but behind the scenes they are a cause of great concern to us.”

Laughing, Yzak shook his head and walked to the door, Dearka standing and following him a moment later. “I’ll go along for now,” the Duel pilot said. “But if it were up to me, we’d be forcing our way in. I can’t disagree with the son of Committee Chairman Zala, can I? Well, sneaking in sounds fun too. And there’s always the possibility I’ll finally get a chance to see the face of the Strike pilot.”

Athrun gasped at the comment, watching his two comrades leave, but made no move to follow them. Of course he’d be hurt by the remark, but he shouldn’t be showing such emotion in front of Yzak and Dearka. That kind of thing would only make things worse.

“You were serious about sneaking in then?” Eclipse asked, pulling Athrun away from his thoughts. If anything, to get his mind off of it. 

“Yes, I think we’ve established that is our best move at the moment.”

“How long do you think the ‘Legged Ship’ will be docked there?”

“I don’t know. A week? A few days? We damaged it pretty good, but we don’t really know why it’s staying there in the first place.”

“If you want, I could get us some internal contacts to let us in undetected,” Eclipse continued, interesting both Nicol and Athrun as to why she would bring that up. “If you let me go ahead of you, I can set things up if you hear nothing back from Carpentaria.”

“But, Eclipse, you’re from—” Nicol began, but Athrun cut her off.

“You want me to let you go now and alone? Just like that? What if you’re caught?”

“Do you think I will be? You’re the commander now, Athrun. You know what I can and can’t do, so _you_ have to make the decision. If I say I won’t get caught, will that make you feel any better?”

Athrun sighed, thinking it over, but there was really nothing he had to think on. Yes, he knew he had to send her in. They needed contacts if they planned on infiltrating—since that was probably what was going to happen—and if they wasted any more time, the _Archangel_ would be long gone before they even got into the country. The thing was, did he want to send her alone? If more than one person went in unattended, it might look suspicious, even if they were disguised as newlyweds or lovers. Also, she was the only one registered in that country. 

But did he want to use her like Commander Le Creuset had?

“Fine,” he said at length. “Be ready to leave by morning. Get some rest, we’ll give you some money and other essentials. Lodging?”

“A motel will work for the first night. I’ll make contacts and might get a temporary residence from there on out. I’ll let you know.”

“Very well then, dismissed.” Saluting, Eclipse hurried out of the room and down the hall, passing the captain and second-in-command as she ran to her quarters. 

“Are you sure about this?” Nicol asked when they had all left. “Sending her alone?”

“She used to live in the country, so I’m not too worried. She’ll know how to blend in.”

“That’s not my point—”

“I don’t like saying this, but she has the skills for this and we have to use her. I’m thinking she already has some people in mind she’s going to contact and we’re gonna have to trust her. We can’t pass up this opportunity to get the ‘Legged Ship,’ Nicol.”

“Is that you talking, or Yzak?” the musician asked, but never got a solid answer. Sighing, they both left to get some rest. 

* * *

Eclipse had made it Onogoro Island easy enough. Making a fake ID wasn’t as hard as she anticipated it to be, then again she still had her original one lying around to go by. Just change the picture, name, and other characteristics and she was officially Rayne Corim, out of town journalist coming home to see her parents. 

Having booked a room at a motel near the coast and already set her stuff inside, a walk seemed ideal. The redhead wasn’t necessarily glad to be back in the country, but being under a false name gave her more freedoms than she would’ve had before. 

Rymyr was a well-known name, after all.

 _It hasn’t changed,_ she thought, stopping in front of a wrought iron gate. She had ventured a few miles inward, weaving around the various subdivisions to pause at the one labeled “Rich Bastards Central” by the local high schoolers. “Rich Bastards” may have been close to fact if someone stopped to look at the houses—well mansions—nestled along the road. The smallest house was two stories and built on seven acres with so many windows the house literally screamed “no privacy.” However, the one next to such a mansion was the one Eclipse had found interesting. The driveway ran up to a three-car garage, which probably stored a yacht, two motorcycles, and one vintage car since the limo was parked outside near the front door. The house itself was two stories tall, stretching a total of 9,500 square feet across eight acres of land. A pond settled out in front of the house—the limo having to cross a bridge in order to get to the front door—with no particular features other than a small rowboat near the shore and a gazebo on a small island.

“Probably has too many rooms to count,” Eclipse muttered, picking up a stick and dragging it across the iron bars. _I hope they never know I’m back_ , she thought, but ended up sighing. Announcing her full name was the only way she could get any contacts in the country. That kind of news wasn’t about to be ignored. “Yes, Orb, both your precious princess and her sidekick are back in the country. You can all breathe a sigh of relief and know that, after much turmoil, they’re both alive and well. Hah!” she laughed, throwing the stick through the gate and angrily brushing away a small tear. “Yes, alive and well. Happy Birthday, Lexi Rymyr, welcome back to Hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, welcome to one of my favorite chapter titles. XD And one of my favorite chapters up until this point. My MS battles gradually get longer as the book goes on, but there are some battles coming up that are fairly short to stick closer to the canon. 
> 
> I quite like the idea of the Stealth breaking down on its first flight as the HiMat system is veeeeeery new at this point. There's a lot of issues with it and it's fairly flimsy, that means a lot of trouble for Eclipse, but I really hated the idea that everything in Gundam magically worked right off the assembly line... 
> 
> For those of you interested in Eclipse's family life/past, there'll be some next chapter. Hopefully it will hold up to criticism! Though people have been fairly silent so far... (suspicious...) 
> 
> Oh, one more thing, we're a little over halfway through the book (chapter-wise). I have a feeling that will either be a good thing or a bad thing. XD
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for taking a moment out of your busy lives to pop in.
> 
> Strata


	34. Home Sweet Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zala team in Orb trying to find proof the Archangel is there.

** Home Sweet Hell **

Living in Orb for most of her young life gave Eclipse an upper hand when it came to scoping the terrain, as well as trying to find some inside delinquents to help her out. While the country may have looked like a peaceful place on the outside—and even on the inside people had no idea what was going on—there were still those who didn’t like the prospect of peace. Some of those individuals joined the military, but most formed little gang-like organizations throughout the country. However, those gangs didn’t last long as soon as the government got wind of them, but there were still a few who were going strong and one mention of her name got Eclipse in to see the “leader” of one. The top dogs just found it so interesting to see the representative’s niece with one foot in Hell. Given, her mother’s brother-in-law—Representative Homura—was the top authority in Orb, but most people still listened to the former representative, Uzumi Nara Attha. Ever since his betrayal with the Heliopolis incident, he had stepped down, but he still—by far—had the most authority in the government.

In other words, Eclipse’s uncle was a mere figurehead.

Eclipse didn’t care either way. Her name was still connected to all that political business and no matter how many times her mother could remarry and change her last name, people would still know Homura was her brother-in-law and Lexi—through that relationship—was related to the powerhouse of Orb. It was an interesting family tree. Leaving her own emotions aside, she bit her lip and met with the Zala team’s best bet at getting into the country unnoticed. 

The meeting went well, even if the laughs and smartass remarks about her family and apparent switch to the “dark side” had gotten old after the first joke. It had taken her a day to get in contact with them—and almost three days to actually see the leader—and the best thing they could come up with was, “Attha’s bitch?” Given, it brought out some connotations she would rather not think about, but creativity was really going down the shit hole if that was as far as their brain cells would take them. At any rate, she got the approval she needed and the only thing she had to do was contact Athrun to see how the political pressure business was going.

“So, you can get us in?” Athrun asked on the other end of the phone line. 

“Yeah, if you still need them to. However, I’d have to give them a little something for the trouble.”

“Yeah, I expected as much,” he sighed. “I’ll have to send a line to Commander Le Creuset and get official authorization, but we should have their money within a couple of days.”

“Good, they’re really going out of their way to do all of this.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he stated, shuffling uncomfortably in his seat. Even the redhead could hear it. “But having such an organization in Orb is kind of surprising,” he said a second later.

“This country isn’t perfect, y’know,” Eclipse admitted, getting up to walk to the kitchen and pour herself a cup of coffee. Perhaps his restlessness was making her the same way. “They can have just as many problems as everyone else.”

“Yeah, I guess you have a point,” he replied, but there was a twinge of disappointment in his voice. The redhead was going to ask him about it when she walked back to her seat, but it sounded as if Nicol had come up behind him and started asking him something. He muttered a few words to the musician before returning to their conversation. “I have to take care of some things over here. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Rog—” Eclipse started, but he had already hung up the phone. Sighing, she set the device down on the counter and slunk down into the two-seater sofa of her borrowed apartment. The one good thing about promising such a substantial amount of money was the prestige hospitality given in return. They had let her stay in one of the apartment buildings they owned until the final deal could be made, and if everything went well, the rest of her team would join her as soon as they were smuggled into the country. It was a three-room apartment with one bathroom and a working kitchen, which suited Eclipse just fine. If they had been able to get her that type of accommodation that quickly, they both had resources and were far more successful than she had garnered. How many other people had they smuggled in, she couldn’t help but think grimly.

If Athrun _did_ end up backing out in the end, she could still pool some of her own money to pay them off, but really didn’t want to delve into her bank account and especially in her home country. The last thing she needed was some private investigator on her tail. _Yeah right, Mom and Dad wouldn’t send anyone after me,_ she decided after a while, setting her coffee mug down in a safe position on the floor as she stretched before kicking her feet out on the other armrest. _They aren’t that worried about me._ For a moment, the revelation made her a bit sad. Her parents didn’t care. The emotional second passed, however, and she closed her eyes, saving the drama for a different time. Right then she had to worry about whether or not she had to plan some smuggling mission, not dwell on old relationships. _Athrun better call back soon._

Soon, actually, wasn’t that far off, but then again, the redhead had fallen asleep without even realizing it. Probably not the best idea when she was in such a strange apartment owned by some very dangerous people, but she felt vaguely safe. She must have had that foot in Hell a bit too long. “Hello?” her sleepy voice cracked into the receiver, making the boy hesitate on the other end.

“Uh—yeah—just calling you back. Carpentaria’s been coming up blank so we’re gonna go for it. Got any idea how this is all going to work?” Athrun asked.

“I’ll let them know right now and try to get you in within the next few hours. Sound good on your end? Nightfall would be a lot better than broad daylight.”

“That’s what I was thinking too. I’ll get the other guys ready and you worry about getting us in.”

“Roger that.”

“Oh, and Eclipse? This isn’t going to put you in some deep shit or something, is it? I mean, all they want is money and that’s it, right? I’d hate to see this backfire on you.”

The redhead smiled, she couldn’t help it. She had debated the same thing a while back, but thought herself foolish. They might have been shady-looking—and even shady-smelling—folk, but they didn’t seem like the kind of people to have hidden agendas. Well, at least ones where they’d go back on their deal. “I think we’ll be fine, sir. You just get ready and I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”

As planned, things went smoothly and in about six hours Eclipse was standing on the shore waiting for the rest of her team to swim up. It seemed so brainless of an idea she wished she would have just thought of it and saved them the trouble of getting some inside help, but when she saw the fake driver’s licenses and Morgenroete IDs, the redhead was glad she had made the right decision. 

Athrun came up first, the leader standing next to Eclipse offering him a hand as soon as he cleared the final, rocky outcrop. Shaking his hand, the commander pulled off his goggles and offered a stern stare. “Athrun Zala of the Le Creuset team.” The other three stood behind him, looking a bit on edge to say the least, but that wouldn’t stop the cocky smiles on both Yzak’s and Dearka’s faces.

The leader stuck out his hand and grasped the young commander’s, smirking his own egotistical grin. “Welcome to the land of peace.”

* * *

Watching the guys busy themselves about the apartment, Eclipse was vaguely reminded of Heliopolis and the two, foolish teammates she had been working with. While she didn’t think these four redcoats would make such rash decisions—well, she would have to keep a close eye on Yzak—the idea of working with other people again just made her insides cringe. All they had to do was locate the ship, but fake IDs didn’t necessarily mean they were free to move about without a care. In fact, they had to be extra cautious, but Eclipse wasn’t going to bring that up just then. 

Dearka and Yzak were arguing about something in the back room, and—thankfully—as soon as Nicol walked in to sort it out, they both quieted down. Athrun had been in a meeting with the leader for the past half hour, but remembering the small hints that organization had dropped her about the _Archangel_ , they no doubt had a lot to mention to the commander. Possible areas to start looking would be a huge help, but the redhead was thinking their best bet would be Morgenroete. If the organization had some kind of informant in the facility, things were about to get easy, but if they just gave Athrun a map and said “go at it,” they were in for a long couple of days. She could take them to the Morgenroete compound, but that place was huge and without official IDs—they could only get into Area One thanks to some high-tech security—the best thing they could do was go by word of mouth. Not the greatest circumstances to be sure.

Nicol came out of the bedroom a few minutes later, shaking his head while running an impatient hand through his hair.

“Do I want to know?” Eclipse asked, leaning back on the couch and taking a sip of her glass of water sitting on the corner table to her left.

“They were arguing over beds.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised.”

Sighing, he sat down next to the redhead. “They’re just a bit uptight is all. This isn’t a very comfortable position to be in.”

“We don’t have anything to worry about.”

“So you say. We’re not as used to working with vagabonds as you are.”

“’Vagabonds?’ What, rich boys don’t get outside help from people?” 

The remark was quick and rude, but Nicol was the only one who seemed to notice. Apparently, Eclipse was just as upset, but most likely about things other than their current partnership. “Ouch, where the hell did that comment come from? I’m just saying we’re not used to this is all. We’re mobile suit pilots, not field agents.”

“Sorry,” Eclipse responded, offering a small smile as an apology. “It’s been a frustrating couple of days.”

“How so?” he prodded, looking genuinely interested. The curiosity actually surprised her. Not because she didn’t think he cared—she had stopped thinking that a while ago—but because she didn’t know how to respond. Telling the truth would open up a huge can of worms along with all the mud that goes with them. But then again, she couldn’t keep it hidden for much longer.

Sighing, she took another drink of water—wishing it was something stronger—and straightened up. Why couldn’t he have just understood she was frustrated and leave it at that? “I went to go visit my house the other day.”

“Really?” Nicol asked, feigning probably more surprise than was necessary. He knew she was from Orb, but going home seemed like a risky bet. Still, he played along. “I bet your parents were happy to see you.”

Eclipse started laughing immediately, but after seeing the look on the musician’s face, she forced herself to stop. “I didn’t go inside, just walked by.”

“Why not?”

“We didn’t really leave things on a good note.”

“All the more reason to step inside and say hello, right?”

Eclipse couldn’t tell if he was joking or actually serious. Knowing he had a close relationship with his parents, she could see why her actions were probably confusing, but she didn’t think he was dumb enough to believe every family was like his. “You’re too optimistic,” she said after a long pause. 

“Or maybe you’re just being immature.”

That comment startled her. Out of all her teammates, Nicol was the last one she thought would make such a statement. Perhaps she underestimated him, thinking him too kind to not tell her the truth, or maybe he was still mad over her remark before. “Nicol, I—”

“Sorry, that must’ve sounded a bit harsh. I really don’t know what happened and making assumptions probably isn’t the best thing I should be doing right now,” he admitted. “I guess just hearing that you and your parents had such a falling out surprises me,” he continued. “For the most part, you don’t seem like a hard person to get along with.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Nicol shrugged a response and Eclipse could only sigh. “Perhaps it’s _you_ who is easy to get along with. If it wasn’t for you, I’m sure this team would’ve fallen apart by now.”

“Nah, I’m sure you guys would’ve been fine. Yzak and Dearka can be good friends—when they want to be—and Athrun might get a bit moody at times, but he’s definitely reliable. I’m sure as soon as—” The redhead started laughing before he could finish, startling him. There he was making a serious comment and she found it hilarious. If he didn’t like hearing her laugh so much, he may have been offended. Instead of making a rude remark, he waited for her to calm down and explain. 

“You have a _lot_ more influence than you think,” Eclipse said, wiping a small tear from her eye. “So much so, I might have to take you with me to go see my parents.”

Nicol smiled at that, but had a devilish twinkle in his eye. It seemed so out of character for him, the redhead’s smile twisted upside down. “Meeting the family already? Oh my, Eclipse, I had no idea you admired me _that_ much.”

It took her a bit to realize he was joking and started a tentative laugh once his smirk turned back into his warm smile. “Ah, but you have to be careful,” she said with a wink and got up. “My parents can be real stiffs at times. Not even such admiration can save you if they decide to spear your ass to the front gate.”

“Ouch,” he said as he cringed, watching her grab a coffee tin from the cupboard and start pouring it into the machine next to the refrigerator. “And you wouldn’t bother helping me?” he asked, pivoting in his seat to look over the back of the sofa, his left arm resting comfortably on the cushion.

“I can only talk to them for so long and as soon as our ‘pleasant’ conversation turns into a shouting match and breaking windows, I have a tendency to bail. After that, you’re on your own.”

“Glad to see I can count on you.”

“You can any time, just not when it concerns the in-laws.”

That received a smile, and not one Eclipse missed. It was a cute look and as soon as she realized she had matched that grin and their eyes locked a bit too long, she turned away in embarrassment. _What the hell?_ she thought as she felt her cheeks getting warmer, but didn’t have much time to dwell on the matter. Dearka and Yzak came out of their room a few seconds later, yapping about television shows and female actresses. The redhead cut everything out after the blond started talking about body figures, wondering how she was going to survive their stay in Orb. There were potential, family problems waiting outside the apartment door and hearing the calm conversation switching into an argument, she knew her newest “family” was about to have some problems of its own. 

It was going to be a long stay indeed.

* * *

Athrun’s meeting had dragged out longer than the others had anticipated and Eclipse had bailed to her room as the remaining pilots ran out for food, the redhead immediately turning down the offer when she realized she might get a few moments to herself once more. Somehow, her living arrangements had gone from blissful silence to restless chatter and the thought of possibly getting in a catnap was too tempting to pass up.

At least until Athrun came back.

“So, you’re _the_ Lexi Rymyr?”

Eclipse sat up quickly, her hand grasping the gun under her pillow and aiming it at Athrun in the doorway. He looked just as startled as her for a moment until she recognized him and he had enough awareness to apologize for barging in.

“Sorry, I was just so surprised when they told me.” He sat down at the end of her bed, not even taking the time to remove the black jacket across his shoulders. She curled her feet up towards her, leaning back against the headboard and flipping the safety back on her gun before setting it down at her side.

“What are we talking about now?”

“I can’t believe I never made the connection before. Hell, why didn’t anyone else?”

“Seriously, Athrun, you need to give me more information than this.”

“You’re Lexi Rymyr,” he stated again, bending his right leg up on the bed as he turned to square up to her.

“Yes, you’ve said that already and I’m pretty sure I was there when they signed my birth certificate.”

“What is a relation to the Representative of Orb—to the people most promoting peace—doing in the _ZAFT_ _military_?”

“Ah—well—it’s a bit complicated—”

“I mean, back in the day—”

“Back in the day?”

“—you were just as important as the princess herself.”

“Well, you see—” Athrun almost interrupted her again, but she put her hand up. “Just shut up and listen, damnit. I don’t have either the time or the patience to explain it all, so I’ll give you the short version until you catch me in a friendlier mood, capiche?” He blinked a few times, but seemed to get her point and she knew that was the best she was going to get.

Sighing, she wondered where she could begin. As soon as she had stepped onto Orb soil, she knew her past was going to catch up to her, but this was the second time that day she had to think about it. She had spent nearly three years trying to forget it all and now those efforts were futile. “Okay, so you said you knew I was close to Princess Cagalli, right?” she started, figuring her childhood was as good of a place to begin than anything. He nodded. “Well, that’s true, but we weren’t really thrown together voluntarily. More like she didn’t have any friends and we were sort of related, around the same age, and our parents worked together a lot so they literally put us next to each other and said, ‘look, your new favorite playmate!’”

“This was a bad thing, I take it?”

“At first, it was. Sorry, we’ll save those stories for another time,” she added when Athrun opened his mouth to ask more questions. “It’s not exactly an age I want to go back and revisit at the moment.”

“Because you two were such good friends?”

"No, because we weren’t at first. Never mind—later,” she added when he continued to press the matter. Sighing again, she wondered why she had even started the conversation. Her past had bothered her for so long and telling another person seemed like it would just make her whole life even more difficult, but Athrun looked interested. And he was her commander, so didn’t he deserve some kind of explanation? “The reason I left Orb wasn’t because of some childhood relationship, but because I was used as some advertisement piece. The princess of Orb and her cousin dressed in cute, pink dresses—”

“You wore pink?”

“—while playing happily together in the sandbox—it was an image on every billboard with the words, ‘Peace is possible,’ under our feet,” the redhead continued, ignoring his comment. “After that picture was taken, we were always on TV, in the papers, or just anything to promote peace and to help Uzumi Nara Attha get elected. There were always ulterior motives and no matter how right they may have seemed at the time, I hated all the attention—or at least I’m sure I would have if I knew any better.”

“Too young, I take it,” Athrun added, trying to figure out how old she would’ve been then. “Around four-ish?”

“Three or four—something like that. Just small enough for me to have no will of my own and yet be the cutest little image of peace. It makes me sick thinking about it.”

“Why? Peace—obviously—isn’t a bad thing.”

“No, but my parents thought about it in the extreme sense.” She sighed at the thought and ran a nervous hand through her hair as she looked over at the wall. “They believe in no quarreling at all—not even between my brother and I—especially with weapons. They want every firearm and potential weapon to be done away with. In their world, no country would have arms and the only kinds of war that were allowed were verbal ones, but even those were in the grey area.” She sighed again, crossing her arms in front of her as her head fell back to rest on the headboard.

“It’s just not… practical,” she continued. “Sure, people may not be able to injure anyone with a bullet, but they still have fists and anger, jealousy, pride—those are emotions that won’t merely disappear. As I grew older, I began to realize that, accepting Lord Uzumi’s mindset more than my parents. If you wanted to protect someone, sometimes you had to fight, he had always said and I had taken it to heart, much to their grief. It was as simple as that.” She shrugged. “I started refusing to go to their political speeches and be the perfect image. I stopped wearing dresses and got involved in sports, realizing I was more cut out for cleats than high heels. Cagalli did the same and slowly we became people my parents hated. I started talking back; arguing about their values and trying to stress my own.” Her face darkened at the memories, remembering vividly the times her parents had locked her in her own house, refused to let her leave. They had turned the whole household against her at the time, leaving her with no allies, perhaps, other than her brother, Lathan.

Sighing, she looked back at Athrun, seeing him watch her silently as she talked. She hadn’t expected him to understand her complicated family situation, but she did appreciate him quietly listening and not judging. Though what thoughts were running through his head was another matter.

“I started taking self-defense lessons from one of Orb’s military officers, learned how to use a gun, and attended tactical training with Cagalli. My parents claimed it was merely a teenage phase and I was just rebelling—maybe in some instances I was—but I believed in what I was talking about. I didn’t think the fighting would stop by simply tossing away weapons. All that did was make people helpless.”

“Your parents probably weren’t too happy with you,” Athrun remarked. 

“They were furious and practically imprisoned me in my own home. If it wasn’t for my brother, I’d probably still be there surrounded by bodyguards.”

“You have a brother?” he asked and she gave a warm smile.

“Yeah, older. He ran away with me about the same time as Junius Seven was attacked and we joined the ZAFT military. I’m assuming the huge rush of volunteers was what kept our identities secret. Either that or because my spotlight role had ended soon after Lord Uzumi was elected. While the Rymyr name is well-known in Orb, others outside of the country don’t tend to recognize it. If someone does recognize my name, they usually assume I’m connected to some aristocrat and nothing more. I think you might be the first one outside of the country to actually know anything about my connection to the current representative.”

“But what Januarias 4? Surely they had to do background checks then in order to make sure no one would interfere.”

Eclipse shrugged. “I put down that I was a runaway from Orb. Most likely, they _did_ do a background check on me, but I had said I left voluntarily. Besides, my parents didn’t send out a search party, so I was fair game, so to speak. As long as there was no high official in the PLANTs to say I couldn’t go, they were allowed to do as they pleased.”

Athrun took a second to digest it all. She had had a more complicated past than he had anticipated and she had talked about it so nonchalant; as if it really didn’t matter. He knew it must have been hard to get the conversation started—and she was quite vague in some parts—but there she was, sitting snuggly under her blankets and staring at him, waiting for him to answer. But what was he supposed to say? He had asked a question, and she answered. It was as simple as that. “Oh.”

“Oh? All you have to say is, ‘oh?’”

“I asked you what you were doing in the ZAFT military and all you told me were hard facts. _Why_ , Eclipse. Why did you join the _ZAFT_ military even though Orb has its own and you knew a war was starting?”

The redhead was caught off-guard with that question. She remembered asking Nicol much the same thing not too long ago, but even though she waited anxiously for his answer, she never had one herself. Why did she do it? Did she really hate Orb that much? _No,_ she realized, _but I did hate my parents._

“Maybe I was trying to make my parents mad,” she finally answered, “or felt some strong obligation to try and keep what happened to Junius 7 from happening to some other colony. I—honestly—don’t remember my true motives, just that I knew I _had_ to. My mind just wouldn’t have peace if I had stayed here in Orb. I _had_ to be out there; _had_ to be fighting.” She paused, slipping back into the memory. There was no real reason to why she had signed up. Not even Lathan had wanted to join at the time, and his mindset was the same as hers. He, unfortunately, felt obligated to as soon as she had signed up. She just _needed_ to. Her mind wouldn’t let her have it any other way. “Maybe I wanted to feel useful.”

“I think everyone wanted to back then,” Athrun admitted, falling backwards across the bed and staring at the ceiling. Eclipse knew his mother had been on Junius 7 when it had been destroyed and having him think about it now made her frown, but for many reasons. She was a bit jealous he had had such a close relationship with his parents, but still could not relate to the pain of losing one. How would she feel if her parents died? Would she be sad? Relieved? She shook her head, not sure if she even wanted to know the answer.

“We were all so helpless then,” Athrun continued. “But now we have the power to do something. Now we have the strength to keep such tragedies from happening.”

“I guess you’re right, but now that we have that kind of power, what do we can we do with it? We’ve been stuck on this futile goose chase for the past two months.”

Athrun didn’t answer right away, still staring at the ceiling as if hoping it would tell him the answers. Power was a sketchy thing. A person could have it, but if misused, it could prove fatal. If a person didn’t have it, however, matters could be just as fatal. “Hopefully, that’ll all change as soon as we find that ship.” He sat up quickly, turning and patting her knee under the blankets. “C’mon. Let the search begin.”

* * *

After the long stroll down the memory lane from hell—and some delicious Equatorial Union-based takeaway the guys had found—the five redcoats split up into two groups: Athrun and Nicol and then Yzak, Dearka, and Eclipse. Athrun and Nicol were going to inspect Area One while the other three roamed the outer complex. Since Eclipse knew her way around, it only seemed practical to stick her with Yzak and Dearka. Besides, since Banadiya they had all gotten along for the most part.

Athrun had handed out Morgenroete uniforms that looked like nothing more than mechanic outfits. Light blue, cotton pants and a matching shirt made them all look like blue crayon vomit, but they really weren’t in the position to argue. At least Eclipse didn’t have to complain. She opted to wear formal work clothes, sitting comfortably in black business slacks, a black blouse and a white jacket that looked close enough to a suit jacket that she could blend in with a lot of the office workers wandering around the area. She just laughed when she saw the boys’ outfits and even though they kept bugging her as to why she wasn’t wearing the same thing they were, she just shook her head and didn’t answer.

Everyone but Athrun wore a cap. Eclipse’s excuse to not wear one had to do with her attire, but the others probably wanted to “blend in” as well as she did. Athrun had outright refused the hat, though he never explained why. Eclipse and Nicol asked him about it but he said nothing more than it wasn’t comfortable. Deciding it wasn’t an appropriate time for an argument over headgear, neither of them pressed the matter.

“Any idea?” Dearka asked as soon as the three of them had left, glancing at the small, printed map in his hand. “Man, this is hard to read.”

“There’s a research lab to the north that I think we should check out first,” Eclipse explained, thanking the blond when he gave her the map.

“And how do you know about this?” Yzak asked.

“Resources.”

“Those are some pretty good ones then,” Dearka mumbled, giving Yzak a suspicious look. “But how guarded is this lab?”

“Its security is pretty top notch, but there are other ways to see what had been going on around there over the past few days.”

“Information gathering?” the Duel pilot asked, looking doubtful. While it seemed like a good idea—for the most part—it could take a long time. The more people, the quicker it would go, but Dearka and Yzak stood out too much in their uniforms. Besides, if Orb’s official statement was that the _Archangel_ wasn’t in the country, then the general public probably didn’t know much about what had happened. They might have heard about a battleship in their waters, but nothing more.

“I take it that’s why you dressed so formally?” Dearka asked.

Eclipse nodded, but didn’t like the look on the last member’s face. Yzak was still suspicious and without delving into her past again, he was going to be suspicious for a while. Sighing, she patted him on the shoulder. “Hey, since you guys stand out so much, why don’t you let me handle the social stuff and you head over to the complex. Give Nicol and Athrun backup if anything.”

“ _You_ handle the ‘social stuff?’” the pilot joked, cocking an eyebrow at the idea. “What happened to the days when you wouldn’t talk to anyone? I think I liked you better back then.”

“You say that now, but just wait until I digress so far, I only talk with my hands.”

“You’d get the middle finger a lot,” Dearka finished for her. They all shared a smile at that, but they couldn’t mess around for long.

“Fine, you do the talking shit and we’ll handle the scouting shit,” Yzak said. “We’ll let Athrun know and _you_ give us regular updates.”

“Worried?”

“Maybe a little,” the Duel pilot admitted, turning away soon after and starting off. Dearka blinked and then shrugged, throwing her a wink and a wave before catching up.

So, just like that she was on her own again; comforting in some ways, but still lonely in others. That was sad. 

After all, wasn’t she supposed to be in her hometown?

Eclipse actually had a fair amount of luck with the locals. The first person she had asked said there were some loud noises around 2300 about three days ago. “Sounded like footsteps,” the lady had said, offering a slight smile. “That probably sounds ridiculous though, doesn’t it?” The redhead had laughed it off, finding it comforting that there was a chance a huge mobile suit was nearby. Of course, she left out the mobile suit part for the lady and said something like “Must be testing something.” She didn’t hear much more than that and called it a day after a few more hours of wandering. 

Walking back to the apartment, she ended up stopping by the grocery store and buying some food as well as some other essentials. Despite them scoring big with the takeaway, she didn’t want to keep repeating the experience and since the guys weren’t really used to recon, she doubted they would think of that. So, she grabbed a little of everything and stuffed it all into the fridge and cupboards before they got back. 

They all walked in about an hour later, having not seen anything of interest from where they were. The redhead relayed what she found out, but overall, they didn’t have enough to go on. Sighing, Eclipse was going to call it a night when Nicol tapped her shoulder and handed her a bag. “Huh?” was the redhead’s initial reaction and when he smiled and urged her to look inside, her confusion turned more into curiosity. “What is it?”

“Just open it.”

Pulling aside the two flaps, she looked inside. Two books were lying at the bottom, one brown and bound in leather, while the other was more of a mahogany color. On top of those books was an envelope and when Eclipse looked up to comment, she noticed Dearka was holding a bag as well. He had already reached in and was opening the card by the time the redhead had gotten hers out of the envelope. “Happy Birthday” it read on the front and inside everyone but Dearka had signed his name. Most likely because they had gotten his present at the same time. 

Eclipse didn’t know how to react at first. That was the last thing she expected not only because they were supposed to be on some stealth mission, but also because she didn’t think anyone knew it had been her birthday a few days ago. Just staring at the card and the names printed there, she opted to keeping quiet and waiting for someone else to react first. Seeing as she was the center of attention, that moment wasn’t going to happen until she moved, but—luckily—Dearka was the first to break the silence. Just as surprised about the gifts as Eclipse, the blond let out a “Hah!” when he pulled three crossword puzzle books out of the bag. Instantly, he started flipping through them, ignoring the others and shouting out the answers he knew.

They all looked to her next and by pure embarrassment, she pulled out the two books. The older, brown one she recognized immediately. Looking up at Nicol, she wanted to ask where he had found her journal—she vaguely remembered falling down through the atmosphere and forgetting it on the _Vesalius_ —but decided to save it for another time seeing as they had gotten her a newer one. It was leather-bound like her first journal, but looked to have more pages. “Thanks,” she said quietly, opening the front flap. Inside, her name was printed along with her birth date, making the redhead smile with how sophisticated the handwriting looked. Not in the sense that it looked too grandeur, but more like the person normally wrote in cursive and tried really hard to print the words.

Elegant.

“Sorry, I know it’s not authentic, but—well—we thought it was appropriate,” Nicol said, blushing a little when he saw her reading the name and date. 

Blinking, Eclipse realized he was most likely the one to write it and couldn’t withhold her smile any more. “Thanks,” she said again and started flipping through the pages out of pure, new book habit. “I love it.”

“Well, good because we lost the receipt,” Yzak joked to her left and made his way into the kitchen. “Now, who’s up for cake?”

“We have to bake it first,” Athrun said, joining him near the fridge and setting yet another bag down on the counter.

“I know that, but who’s gonna do it?” 

He immediately turned to Eclipse, but she threw her hands up and shook her head. “I’m domestically challenged.”

“I’ll do it,” Dearka said, setting his bag down on the coffee table and rolling up his sleeves. “Just put everything next to me.”

* * *

The cat and mouse game was getting rather old. First there were rumors at the research facility, then they were back at Morgenroete’s main complex, back at the facility, and then back at the complex again. The Zala team was always a few days behind so they could never officially _say_ the _Archangel_ was still docked there. _Hell, it could already be halfway to Alaska by now_ , Eclipse thought with a sigh, weaving through the people on the sidewalk. She had left the guys back at the apartment earlier that morning and knowing what had happened the day before, her leaving looked more like escaping. _A birthday party?_ she thought again, stopping at a crosswalk. _They threw me and Dearka a damn birthday party?_ If they had given such a celebration for someone else—say, Commander Le Creuset for example—she may not have been so condescending, but it was for her.

 _And_ they got her a gift.

That was probably the most embarrassing thing of all. Sure, she didn’t mind getting presents, but they were in the military and her team was so awkward with one another they were probably all bribed into being there and looking somewhat happy. _Besides,_ she continued, _they were seven days off and threw it on April Fool’s Day. Boy, don’t I feel like an idiot._ In fact, she didn’t. She was touched with the whole ordeal and Dearka’s cake turned out stupendous. Who knew he could do all of that from scratch?

The light changed and she crossed the street with the other pedestrians, staring at her feet as she stepped up on the curb. She didn’t think anyone would recognize her, but just in case, she wore a baggy sweatshirt and bandanna to cover her red hair. Ridiculous, maybe, but it got the job done. She did manage to look up as soon as she passed an electronics store, staring at the television on display when she heard a familiar voice. The guys often had the news on when they were at home so she knew what the screen was about to say and she was already sighing, vaguely remembering the last time she had been in the PLANTs. Staring at the screen, Eclipse muffled out the chairman’s words and read the announcement at the bottom instead. “Patrick Zala gets elected Chairman.” Frankly, it was obvious. Over the past few months things had gotten rather edgy up in the PLANTs. The redhead hadn’t heard any specifics—being stuck on Earth for so long—but she knew everyone was getting nervous and, hopefully, a new leader would help. 

The war was just lasting too long.

Looking around at the people walking near her, she had to laugh. It seemed like such an absurd statement standing in Orb because the war never touched there. In fact, it was a little oasis in the desert. One surrounded by barbed wire, mines, and guard towers just in case any unwanted visitors came begging for a drink, but peaceful nonetheless. It was so ridiculous and yet inspiring at the same time. If the whole world looked at the war like that country, there wouldn’t be any fighting. 

Chairman Zala said something else on the screen, but Eclipse just turned and walked away. She was never good with the political end of things and, frankly, that kind of stuff gave her a headache. The rest of her team had been watching that program all last night and into the early morning, waiting for updates. Since they were all cut off from the military—for the most part—they weren’t getting many scoops on what was happening in the PLANTs. The redhead had called it a mild case of homesickness, but they all rebuked her and sent her to bed. She hadn’t complained after that and actually thanked them for letting her get a few more restful hours of sleep. Or at least she would have if any of them were up.

Athrun had been amazingly silent about the whole thing; going about stoically as if none of it matter to him. And perhaps it didn’t. He was getting harder and harder to read and now that they had been spending so much time in Orb, he had become even more tense. Was he afraid they wouldn’t find the _Archangel_? Or was he, in fact, scared that they _would_? His attitude towards that ship had been touchy to say the least, so what was he going to do if they really did find it? _I’m going to kill the Strike pilot,_ Eclipse decided as she rounded the corner leading to the apartment. _I’ll have to get there before Yzak, but that boy has lived way too long._ While Athrun has still never outright admitted that was his friend, Eclipse was convinced that was the one he wanted to keep safe. She was running out of reasons why it wouldn’t be and now the redhead just accepted it. She knew what the pilot looked like because of his little escapade with Commander Waltfeld, but the problem was finding him, and since they weren’t allowed access into most of the Morgenroete complex, it was going to be even harder. 

Opening the door, the redhead stepped inside and ascended the stairs, fiddling around with the keys in her hand before finding the right one. Slipping it into the lock, she pushed the door aside.

Dearka was up and cooking in the kitchen, wearing simple jeans and a baggy, green t-shirt. His feet were bare and looked as if they should be cold on the tiled floor, but he didn’t seem to notice. Sizzling what looked like bacon in a frying pan and pancakes on the other burner, he raised the spatula in greeting when she walked in. “Did you get those eggs I asked for?”

“Yeah, I saw your note,” Eclipse replied, setting her bag of groceries on the table. “I hope two cartons is enough.”

“It may only last us a couple of days, but I’m hoping that’s as long as we’ll be here for anyway. Find anything new while you were out?”

She shook her head, pulling out the cartons and setting it next to him on the counter. Shaking out the plastic bag, she emptied the trash can into it and tied the top shut. Setting it next to the door for someone to grab on their way out, she walked back over to the counter and jumped up, sitting comfortably on the edge near the blond. “Just a lot of stuff with the new chairman.”

“Figured as much.”

“Is anyone else up?”

“Nicol stepped out for some reason about an hour ago, Yzak’s in the shower, and Athrun’s been on the phone all morning. He’s been trying to convince the Morgenroete technicians we’re some electronic know-it-alls from the Kingdom of Scandinavia or something. We’re hoping that will get us a tour at least.”

“At this point, I’m willing to try anything. I can’t help but feel as if we’re wasting time.”

“I think we all feel the same. Being cooped up here and playing house is definitely becoming old.”

"Playing house? Is that what you call this?” Eclipse asked, cocking an eyebrow as she kicked her feet childishly against the lower cupboards. 

“Yes, and as the little delinquent daughter, I’m telling you to get off the counter and set the table,” Dearka joked, pointing the spatula at her once more and placing his hands on his hips. 

“Yes…mother?” she added, taking her sweet time rolling off the tabletop. “And do I want to know who my fath—”

“Dearka! Where are my damn socks? I had them a minute—” Yzak stopped in the doorway, blinking when he saw Eclipse turn his way. Wearing a pair of jeans and nothing more, the redhead figured losing a pair of socks was the least of his worries. Still drying his hair, the pilot floundered for something else to say, but could only shout, “What?” when Eclipse broke down in laughter and Dearka turned away in disgust. 

“N-nothing,” Eclipse managed, waving a hand at him as she walked over to the dining table and starting arranging the plates and silverware left there. “Just make sure I’m safely tucked in bed before you try anything with Mom, okay _Dad_?”

“Eclipse!” Dearka shouted.

“What the fuc—” Yzak started at the same time, but just gave up. She was obviously in her own little world—well, Dearka knew where she had gotten the idea—and any more mindless babble would probably get both of them into more trouble. Sighing, he turned around and went back into his room.

“They’re on the bed,” Dearka said before he disappeared, throwing Eclipse into an even greater fit of laughter. 

If only they knew.

* * *

Six days had passed before the group decided to venture out to Morgenroete together for the last time. They hadn’t gotten their tour and there had been no new updates from the citizens, so—as Dearka had so comically put—they were really getting tired of “playing house.” Athrun had suggested the idea at breakfast and everyone agreed. While it was possible the _Archangel_ was still being repaired, sitting around in Orb and cooking pancakes was not the best way to spend their time. They were going to take one last look at the complex and if there was still nothing to be found, they were just going to leave and call the whole thing a failure. That in itself was interesting. Eclipse had suggested trying to infiltrate the facility a couple of days in—much like she had done on Heliopolis—but Athrun outright disagreed. The redhead knew he had been touchy since the satellite went down, but it was clearly the best course of action. He mentioned something about her identity and the possibility of too many people recognizing her, however, it seemed like a cop out more than anything. She had even offered to try and get one of the other guys into the place, but he didn’t like that idea either.

It was as if he was trying to _not_ find the ship.

Eclipse had brought it up to Nicol, but he just laughed it off and told her she was being silly. At one point she almost disobeyed orders and snuck out to do her own thing, but when she was on her way to Morgenroete, her parents had stepped out of the limo parked at the main gate. Eclipse knew it was just mandatory inspection, but she was so afraid they had spotted her on the sidewalk and were coming to apprehend her that she ran all the way back to the apartment. No, it wasn’t time to talk to them just yet. She had stayed inside and waited for her teammates to tell her what to do after that. 

Athrun led the way down the main street, making a path through the people for the rest of the Zala team to follow. He didn’t seem to be rushing, but his face made it look as if he was attempting to run a marathon. He looked worried and in a panic almost. Knowing he had been on the phone for a few hours the night before, Eclipse figured he had a very unpleasant run-in with their “allies” in Orb—probably wondering why they were sticking around for so long. She couldn’t blame the organization for getting restless, but they had been paid well beyond their initial asking price. One might think that was enough. 

“We’ll start here,” Athrun began, pointing to the southern area of the complex on the map. “And then work our way around to here. If we see or hear anything about the ship, we’ll head back to the carrier and prepare for battle. Hopefully, we’ll be able to attack them just as they leave the country.”

“But if we don’t find anything?” Dearka asked as he leaned against their borrowed car.

“We’re going to leave anyway and swallow our embarrassment,” the commander replied immediately, looking at Yzak as if he was waiting for him to say something. The Duel pilot, however, remained quiet and turned away. 

Even he didn’t have a smartass remark for that kind of statement. 

Eclipse and Nicol silently agreed, nodding their heads solemnly as they exchanged nervous looks. If they really didn’t find anything and the _Archangel_ was practically in Alaska, things were going to get ugly for them. 

“Good, then let’s get moving.”

The south side came up blank once more and even the west side showed no signs of suspicious movement. “Security’s tighter here than at the naval base,” Yzak commented, standing next to Dearka with his arms crossed over his chest. Sighing, he leaned back against the far railing and took a sidelong glance at the water behind them. “Any luck hacking into their system, Athrun?”

“The system’s multi-layered and I haven’t really made any progress. Y’know,” he began, turning to Eclipse. “You were probably right. It might’ve been easier to capture someone and use them to infiltrate the place.”

The redhead shrugged and shook her head. “Maybe, but you can’t be totally sure. Yzak’s right, the security here is strict, maybe even more so than Heliopolis and that wasn’t particularly a cake-walk for me either. The last thing we needed was to get caught.”

They were all about to give up hope as they rounded the eastern end until a loud, mechanical bird flew over the fence. It was green and about the size of a cardinal with yellow feathers on the wings and two, thin legs that could probably be snapped by someone’s fingers. It said something—sounded vaguely like the word “birdy”—and spun in a circle above the tree near the redcoats. Athrun was the first one to notice it and for the first time that day, he showed a bit of emotion. His lower lip trembled as a small gasp escaped his mouth. Walking towards the tree, he held out his hand and watched as the bird perched down comfortably. The four of them gathered around, eager to know when their commander had become such a Dr. Doolittle as well as see if the thing really was mechanical. “Birdy?” it said again, sounding more like a question than its calls before.

“What is that thing?” Yzak asked.

“Wow, it’s a robotic bird,” Nicol remarked next in awe. He looked impressed and judging by how lifelike the machine looked, no one could blame him. Its feathers even twitched when he moved its head.

“Birdy!” a voice shouted from the other side of the fence a few seconds later, footsteps accenting the call as they thudded on the pavement. Looking up, Eclipse could see it was a younger male running towards them, but she couldn’t make out anything other than his orange mechanics’ uniform. Figuring him to be the owner of the unique animal, she turned back to Athrun to see what he was going to do. There was a slim chance that boy could recognize them for ZAFT soldiers and just giving back a toy wasn’t going to get them caught, but looking at her commander’s face, the redhead could’ve sworn the Devil just appeared. His eyes trembled as he stared at the boy and his muscles tensed, making him look more like an ice sculpture than the calm soldier she knew him to be.

Interesting.

It took one more call for Athrun to finally take a step towards the fence. The rest of his team watched him go, having noticed the peculiar reaction, but not knowing what it meant. Something was going on, but none of them knew what and it was driving them crazy. Or at least it was Eclipse. She had been trying to figure out what was ticking in Athrun’s head for a while and each time she had come up dry. Now, another mysterious thing was going on and all she could do was stand back and watch it all unfold. Ridiculous. Curling her hands into fists, she looked back at the boy behind the fence. It was indeed a teenager that had been calling for the bird, and after a bit of inspection, he began to look familiar. The clothing had thrown her off, but having seen that hair before and those strange, purple eyes, there was no mistaking it. 

That was the Strike pilot.

Her hand darted around her body immediately, reaching for the holster concealed just above her waistband at the small of her back. If she could pull out her gun fast enough and fire, no one would be able to react and she would have one less weight on her conscious. Actually, they would _all_ be better off in the end. That boy was proof the _Archangel_ was still docked, but nothing mattered in that split second of pure instinct. 

Her hand was wrapped around the handle and she had already aimed the gun at the teen before Nicol grabbed her wrist. “Are you insane?” he hissed, trying to push her arm down, but failing. “Someone’s going to see you!”

Eclipse didn’t respond; hell, she had no response. The boy who had killed Commander Waltfeld and Aisha was yards away. Athrun was only slightly in the line of fire, but with such a threat standing behind that fence, she was willing to make such a risky shot if it meant a bullet through that kid’s forehead. The commander would understand.

After all, she was doing it to save him.

“Eclipse, put it away!” Nicol begged, trying to sidestep in front of the weapon, but the redhead forced him back. No, she was going to do it. 

He was right there.

He was practically bleeding in her hands already.

“Enough,” Yzak ordered, stepping up and pushing down the gun as if it were air. In fact, his initial strength startled her. She had never known how powerful he really was and even if it was impressive, he picked the wrong moment to become authoritative. “He’s just a kid.”

Eclipse could just see the irony dripping off his tongue as he spoke. If only he knew what he had just stopped her from doing. “But he’s—” she began, but was silenced once more with a firm shake of Yzak’s head. No one was going to listen to her. It was the only time she had anything worthwhile to say, and they were going to ignore her as if she were a child trying to explain some adult concept.

They didn’t want to hear.

And their greatest enemy was going to live.

 _No, he’s not,_ the redhead decided, bringing up the gun as soon as Yzak let her go. _I won’t—_ Her finger went to pull the trigger, but the Duel pilot proved to be the quicker one and tore the weapon from her hands. “Stop, you don’t—” she began, but Yzak wouldn’t hear it. Grabbing her wrist firmly, he twisted hard, causing a small yelp to escape. She was at a lost for words by that point. That damn pilot was right there and he chose _then_ to try and stop her? Eclipse matched his glare as he twisted harder, silently wishing the painful tears from her eyes. He had to know what was going on. Why wouldn’t he just listen? No matter how much she inwardly pleaded, the pilot wouldn’t back down and she finally gave in, falling to her knees in defeat. She wanted to scream; wanted to explain. _That’s the Strike pilot!_ her mind shouted, but her mouth never spoke the words. _The Strike pilot!_

Amazingly, neither Athrun nor the Earth Forces soldier heard the commotion, but the look on the commander’s face when he walked over proved he was surprised he missed it all. Blinking a few times, he looked from Eclipse to Yzak and then over to Nicol, but no one gave him any kind of explanation. Not even the Duel pilot said anything after he let her go. “What happened?” Athrun asked.

The redhead blocked it all out again, hearing Dearka saying something in the background. That boy was still in sight. He was just walking away. _Walking_ ; she still had a chance. There was no way she had been the only one to come with a gun.

Athrun.

Reaching up, she grabbed his waist, padding his sides for some kind of weapon. But there was nothing. Not even the commander thought he would need anything. “Y-you’re not armed?” It had to have been a pitiful sight, seeing as she was still on her knees. A beggar; it was the only way to describe her desperation.

“W-why would I be?” Athrun started and snatched her wrists before she could feel around anymore. At first, she struggled, still not wanting to waste the opportunity, but it was no use, her commander’s grip was too strong. 

And the boy was gone.

She had failed again.

“Eclipse, what—” Athrun stopped and slowly dropped her hands, taking a few, trembling steps backwards. It hit him then that she knew who that person was. The others may have suspected, and even Nicol knew about Kira, but he didn’t think anyone knew what he looked like. However, here kneeling and looking defeated in front of him, he was confident Eclipse had known and they he had stopped her from getting the revenge she so longed for— _he_ had stopped her. That pilot killed the man she had admired, and he had stopped her from doing anything. Athrun knew all that just by looking into her eyes.

The Berserker had come out.

And she was pissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, another chapter up for you. I do hope you're enjoying the story so far. Always happy to hear from you if that is or even if that isn't the case. :) 
> 
> Let's see... We get to see the ZAFT team a bit as just guys here and, for better or for worse, they seem to be getting along. A few bits of plot exposition were thrown in as well. The connection between Eclipse and Cagalli is explained and it often makes me wonder what Cagalli and Eclipse were like around each other when they were little... Somehow, I don't think it was "best friends at sight," especially if they were brought together as a political stunt... Anyway, something I often muse about.
> 
> The ending is, of course, straight out of the anime. I think I only changed a line or two in the dialogue to fit my purposes, and the events pretty much happened as was in the show, despite Eclipse's attempts at the contrary. I'm actually trying to remember if I ever brought it up to Yzak about the irony of what he did... Anyway, Kira lives, Athrun figures out that Eclipse must know, and the Berserker is pissed. What could go wrong?
> 
> Thanks again for stopping by to have a read. I hope the story is interesting and that you enjoy coming back. I'm about to post chapter 8 of my next book, so both of these are strolling along nicely. Any thoughts just let me know as I'm always happy to hear from readers. :)
> 
> Onwards and upwards. For those of you who know the series well, we're about to enter the thick of it... Birdy and Morgenroete are episode 28 of Gundam SEED for those who are trying to place when we are.
> 
> See you next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	35. More Demons than Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Zala team verses the Archangel as soon as it leaves Orb. But to what end?

** More Demons than Angels **

Dropping her hands hadn’t been the best move defensively Athrun could have done. The Berserker shifted and kicked her right foot out, swiping the young commander’s feet out from under him to have him fall painfully onto the cemented road. His butt and lower back bore the brunt of his weight instead of his arms, his elbows only scraping across the gravel when his body reacted to keep his head from smacking against the hard surface. The Berserker’s body was on him, her knee jammed into Athrun’s gut and hands braced on both his biceps at the sides. The hold wasn’t perfect, but that hadn’t been the Berserker’s goal anyway.

Eclipse watched him slowly open his startled eyes, looking into hers and she couldn’t help the snarl across her lips.

“Y-you know,” Athrun breathed, as if saying it out loud would somehow clear the air.

“Of course I know!” she hissed in response, the shout instantly bringing the others to their side. A car passed near them on the road, honking its horn in protest as it swerved wide around to the opposite lane. The noise had been so loud the Berserker almost didn’t hear it. A blonde girl had joined the Strike pilot on the other side of the fence, her being the first one to see their fight, if her shouting was any indication.

The Berserker looked up instantly to see her and Athrun must have noticed the expression on her face change. He arched his head back to see the blonde walking towards the gated fence and despite the angle, he recognized her. It was Cagalli.

Dearka slipped his arms under Eclipse and pulled her off Athrun before the fight could go any further, the Berserker not putting up much of a fight despite the emotional battle in Eclipse’s mind. It was seething—it was pissed, but it’s focus was on Athrun and that Strike pilot.

“You protected her too!” Athrun spat and the Berserker looked down at him as she was pulled up. While Athrun had a view of the battle, Eclipse was certain he wouldn’t have seen her hesitate when she had the shot at the bridge. There was no way he could have seen why she hadn’t fired. Perhaps her words in the infirmary on Gibraltar had stuck with him and while not completely untrue, the fact that he might think she was trying to protect Cagalli and not FS and Stray was almost amusing. Athrun must have caught the Berserker’s hostile look at the statement because his confidence wavered a bit before Nicol stepped into view.

“Enough!” Nicol hissed, making only the briefest of movements when he saw her eyes.

“Knock it off!” Dearka growled at the same time, throwing Eclipse off to the side as soon she was clear of their downed commander. She stumbled slightly until she got her footing, but didn’t try to attack any of them again. The Berserker had left, but her fury remained, a brief reminder that she her and her sadistic half might not be that different after all.

“We got our proof,” Eclipse spat, bearing the brunt of the team’s anger and confusion until the rest of them turned to Athrun. “Right, Athrun?” The commander and she glared at each other for a short moment until he sighed.

“Yes, there was an Earth Alliance emblem on that kid’s uniform that said his registration number and ship. It said he was on the _Archangel_.”

 _Liar,_ Eclipse thought and growled to accent the words, but didn’t do anything more. Nicol, Dearka, and Yzak were suspiciously looking at both of them, perhaps making the connection that Eclipse had attacked Athrun for that reason alone. Although, that would imply Eclipse was too much of a loose cannon and would attack anyone from that ship on sight. Her earlier actions had suggested as such, but she was far more in control than that. And they had been too far away to see any sort of emblem.

There had to be something else going on.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Yzak said after another moment of tense silence, looking over at Eclipse before flipping the safety on her gun and taking it with him. He wasn’t about to give it back until they were at the apartment. “Let’s finish this conversation somewhere else.”

* * *

Athrun explained further when they had arrived at the apartment, the pilots each taking to various places throughout the apartment. Athrun stood in the middle of the living room on the other side of the coffee table, facing the sofa where Nicol and Dearka were sitting on opposite ends. Yzak was standing behind them and Eclipse was off to the side, leaning against the wall closest to the hallway and her room. Once the meeting was over, she was going to go pack and be out of that situation as soon as possible.

“There’ll be a carrier sub waiting for us with each of our mobile suits,” Athrun explained. I’ll inform our hosts that we need to leave as soon as possible and we’ll probably leave the same way we came in.” Nicol gave a verbal confirmation, but Eclipse cursed quietly, her eyes on the floor.

“Should we stay and try to get more information about the ship?” Dearka asked and Athrun seemed to think on it before answering, Nicol joining in on the discussion. Eclipse didn’t want to hear any of it. The thought had also crossed her mind, but she wasn’t thinking of getting information about the _Archangel_. No, she was debating destroying it. If she used her own methods—her commander’s orders be damned—she could get in and maybe even blow up the facility they were using to hide the _Archangel_. If she got in trouble when she returned to ZAFT, she could always rat out Athrun, she knew. The thought tasted sour in her mouth, but she knew she could do it. All of this was bigger than Athrun and his friendship with the pilot.

They were just so close.

Her gun came into view then, the weapon cradled in Yzak’s hand as he held it out to her. She followed the line up to his face and his neutral expression. “Here,” he said simply. Her eyes rested on his scar for a second, internally debating whether she should tell him what he had stopped her from doing. Bringing it up then seemed almost too cruel because there wasn’t anything any of them could do about it, but it did cross her mind. There was even a chance Yzak would help her with her vendetta, but knowing what that level of guilt might do him, however, forced her to abandon the idea. They would be fighting the _Archangel_ as soon as it left Orb territory and she needed him at full strength to destroy the Strike.

She took the gun without saying anything, looking back down at the floor as he walked away. The entire team deserved to know what was going on, but the threat of division was too great. They had gained quite a bit of camaraderie over this past mission, she knew, so she bit her tongue.

And cursed.

* * *

They snuck out again that evening, their very handsomely compensated hosts even managing to procure a wetsuit for Eclipse. It was a quiet journey, but tense. The redhead hadn’t spoken to any of her comrades since her brush in with them outside of Morgenroete and the only one to attempt such a feat was Nicol who had failed miserably both times.

They were greeted warmly by the crew of the carrier submarine, shuffling the team away to a very low-key celebration on confirming the _Archangel’s_ whereabouts. Perhaps no one had actually thought the mission would be a success and, really, for a time it was looking to be that way. Instead, they now came back to ZAFT as small-time heroes even if only for a couple of hours.

Eclipse wanted nothing to do with it. She bailed the moment she could, quickly dropping off her stuff in her room before fleeing to the cockpit of the Stealth after she had re-donned her elite uniform. Addict had come back in range again and apparently she had a message waiting for be read. Since she typically received those things via paper, she found herself morbidly curious.

The hangar was empty except for one mechanic who looked to be running a diagnostics on the Aegis nearby. She nodded to her as she slipped her right foot into the zip tie at the base and rode it to her cockpit.

“Welcome back,” the CA said dryly, its monotone sounding vaguely annoyed for being abandoned for so long.

“Bring up the messages on the screen please, Addict.”

“Roger that.”

There were a couple there. Two were from Commander Le Creuset confirming he had received her most recent reports on SIN-ED and the last one could only be from her fellow genetic reject. Sighing, she shook her head lightly, honestly happy to have something to think about other than her complete failure to kill the Strike pilot.

She opened the message and froze.

The message was only three words long, but the weight those words had placed on Eclipse was profound and her fingers dug into the fabric on her thighs.

_Pride killed Gluttony._

Other than the reoccurring name of “Bob” at the end of the message, that was it. Those three words.

Stray was dead.

So, that was it? That was what her life as a soldier had become? A series of events where she had failed to kill someone for some reason or another and, in the end, they ended up killing someone she cared for in return? Was that why she had endured all that on Januarias 4? Was her power only useful for sitting on the sidelines and just watching the tragedies unfold?

“Never again,” she hissed, a couple tears falling down her cheeks as she hung her head and the Berserker returned.

“No more.”

* * *

Athrun had been whisked away to meetings after the minor celebration, only noting Eclipse’s absence after Nicol had brought it up once his second meeting had ended. The musician was clearly concerned and as the team’s commander, he was expected to check up on his comrades. “I have a couple more meetings to take part in, but I’ll check up on her later,” he had said, frowning when Yzak had called him a coward, apparently hearing their discussion as he headed toward the hangar himself, it seemed.

“Athrun, please,” Nicol pleaded. “She hasn’t said anything since we came back and you so unprofessionally refused to question her on her conduct back in Orb. _Obviously_ , there’s something going on neither of you are telling us.”

"You think I didn’t question her because I’m hiding something?” Athrun snapped, exhaustion in his voice outweighing the abrupt anger. Perhaps he was just getting tired. After all, he knew Eclipse had caught on and it was only a matter of time before the others did too.

Nicol sighed. “I can’t say I’m not accusing you, but something’s wrong. I don’t have to remind you of the coming battle, so why the hell are we all arguing like this?”

“There’s a lot involved.”

“And you know I’m a very patient person.”

Defeated, Athrun sighed a started walking to the hanger. “I-it’s just that I’ve been in something for so long, I never realized what it did to other people.”

“But…” the musician egged, feeling as if there was some kind of catch. Did this have something to do with that friend of his?

“I’m beginning to think it’s not worth it that much anymore. After seeing Eclipse—realizing how far she was willing to go, I don’t think I have the right anymore.”

“Right for what?” Nicol asked, but never got an answer. By that time, they had reached the hangar and the loud bickering echoing from the inside. So loud, in fact, it was easy to determine who they were.

“Just tell Athrun to talk to her!” Dearka yelled, swinging his right arm out wide. “It’s not like she’s listening to us so—”

“We don’t need to bring that rule-based, Aegis-finger-up-the-ass _commander_ into this. Damn it, Dearka, you saw what happened in Orb just as much as I did. Somehow, I doubt _he’s_ the one to solve anything. Try whining and wagging your tail at someone else for a change!” Yzak countered as he braced his hands on his hips. Such a defiant little couple. “What does he got that I—”

“Why does everything have to come down to dick size with you?” Dearka cut in. “Something is bothering Eclipse and all you want to do is bring out the yard stick!”

“What was that?”

Nicol and Athrun just stood in awe, knowing Dearka just breeched the “no trespassing” zone when it came down to Yzak’s pride. Everyone thought it, but no one ever said it.

It seemed the blond would be the one winning the sizing contest.

“Stop sounding like you’re some pussyfooted baby who just had his bottle taken away. Man up and ask him for—” Dearka stopped, swinging his left arm towards the hangar entrance and seeing the other two redcoats standing there. “Uh—shit,” he cursed.

“What?” Yzak—still furious—turned to the door as well, offering up a string of his own profanities once he saw the last two members of his contest standing there. After all of that he could never show his—uh—face in the locker room showers again.

A short, awkward silence passed between them until Nicol cleared his throat and smiled. “Does this mean I win the pot?”

As if to answer his question, a wrench flew out of the Stealth’s open cockpit, landing just behind Yzak. If he hadn’t have stepped forward to try and retaliate, that tool would have been wedged in his skull. Given the past conversation, it probably would’ve done him some good.

“Hey!” the Duel pilot yelled.

“Stop talking about me as if I’m going to judge your damn contest. Haven’t you ever learned to leave a girl alone when she’s pissed?” Eclipse responded, her voice echoing from the cockpit. “You’re lucky that wasn’t a nine millimeter, jackass.”

There was a bit more shouting and bickering as Athrun sighed and walked over to the lift in front of the Stealth, glad the others kept her occupied. Perhaps she wouldn’t notice him coming, then again she was always terribly observant. Oh well, maybe his optimism would actually keep him safe this time.

“Calm down already!” Dearka yelled from the floor just as the lift reached the cockpit. He stood off to the side of the opening, not wanting a wrench in his skull either. There was no response from Eclipse inside and Athrun peered in.

Gun.

Cursing, the commander dropped flat onto the lift before the bullet could catch him in the chest, however, nothing happened. Perhaps she had finally realized her actions were going to have severe consequences. That was a good sign at least. “Y’know, everyone’s worried about you,” Athrun began, slowly getting to his feet. Straightening his uniform, he lifted his head to peer inside. “They’re not really sure why you’re acting like… this.” The last few words dribbled out of his mouth as he looked up and down the end of the barrel. He followed the line of the gun to her face, resting on the pupiless eyes and withholding a shiver. _She’s still that way, I see._

“But you know why.”

He sighed. “Eclipse—”

“He was _right there_ , Athrun. Right there!”

“We were in neutral territory. Killing him would’ve—”

“So, you admit to knowing him? _Knowing_ he was the Strike pilot?” The commander didn’t answer, and said a silent thank you for having the rest of his teammates out of hearing range. “Is that your so-called friend? The one who castrates you every battle?”

“Hey—”

“He killed Waltfeld, Aisha—”

“And how many people have you killed? Being a murderer in a war shouldn’t condemn a man to death.”

“Listen to yourself!” Eclipse screamed, swinging her gun arm out wide. It luckily missed everything in the cockpit. The last thing they needed was an accidental firing, especially with her bridging on the edge corporal punishment. “I should be burned alive for what I’ve done!”

“I’m willing to—”

“Just wait,” she cut in. “Wait until he kills someone close to you and then tell me how forgiving you’ll feel! Do you think he cares? Do you think he’ll stop just because that person he’s about to kill is someone you know?”

Athrun had no response, hell, the Berserker had run out of steam and left, her rage following and leaving her exhausted. Namarra’s message had made it very clear how minuscule the feeling of “friendship” was in a war. FS and Stray were on the same side and still FS felt the need to kill off his friend. How then could a relationship between opposing armies hope to survive?

She sighed, resting the gun in her lap as she looked down. “I wish it was possible, Athrun, but I’m sorry, that optimism has no place in war,” Eclipse began, taking a steadying breath. With her rage having fled with her other half the pain and anguish from that message was returning. She was no longer angry or numb and she cursed, actually wishing that feeling would return. Perhaps Namarra had been right and the Berserker _was_ like a drug. If that was the case, she was losing the battle already.

“I know it doesn’t,” Athrun admitted after a few moments, leaning to his right against the cockpit opening, crossing his arms over his chest. “But a part of me still wants to believe in it.”

 _Belief_ , she thought, thinking back on her experiences with Heine when they had first run into SIN-ED. She had believed then that she could save them—save them from whatever madness they were clearly sinking into. But it wasn’t belief, it was naivety.

“Pride killed Gluttony,” she said softly, breaking the small silence that had fallen between them.

“What?”

"SIN-ED,” she said simply and while he might not have known much, he knew enough about that word alone. “One of my friends just killed the other one. Being optimistic is naïve.”

“Enough,” he said simply, the authority in his voice making her tense. Perhaps he was getting better at this commander thing after all. “Go get some rest. We all need to be ready for when the ‘Legged Ship’ leaves Orb.”

She looked up at him and his face matched the seriousness of the command. Either he had begun playing a role as their commander or he was starting to believe it. “Yes, sir,” was her only response, slipping past him and onto the lift after she put the gun back into the holster at her side. Thankfully, the others had left the hangar floor so she didn’t have to face the full wrath and pity of the Zala team, but she was sure she couldn’t avoid them for long.

Athrun caught a glimpse of the screen as she climbed out, reading the message and the name “Bob” typed below. _So, she hadn’t found the information herself. Is this an ally?_ His first reaction was a sense of betrayal. Did Commander Le Creuset know about this person? Should he press her for more information? Technically, she wasn’t to report to him, but he knew enough to understand that a trusted associate outside of ZAFT made him nervous.

He would have to bring it up later.

* * *

“I’m glad to see you look a bit better,” Nicol commented, plopping down next to Eclipse. It was the middle of the day and they were sitting on the outside deck, waiting for the submarine carrier to be refueled and supplied. It was one of the precautions Athrun had made and, frankly, it was a good idea. They had no idea when the _Archangel_ was going to leave port and if they were unprepared when it _did_ decide to leave—well—everything they had done before would have been pointless. After all the things that had happened in Orb, Eclipse really didn’t want to lose her chance at the Strike.

Damn, she was starting to sound like Yzak.

“Or, aren’t you feeling any better?” Nicol pressed, hearing no immediate response. She looked fine to him, but no matter how observant he was around the others, Eclipse was still hard to read. Whatever had happened at Morgenroete two days earlier had really upset her, but he had no more idea as to what than he had had at the time. No doubt it was a serious matter because no matter how upset, and despite how much she had changed, Nicol figured even Eclipse wouldn’t attack a commanding officer without a good reason. To make matters even more suspicious, Athrun hadn’t written her up for it.

Outright asking her about it might put her in a defensive mood and if that happened, he would never get through to her at all, so he figured he would wait and let her talk in her own time. “I guess it’s okay if you ignore me,” he said after a few more moments of continued silence. “Do you mind if I sit here though?” At least he got something out of her that time. The redhead shook her head and shrugged, resting her chin back on her knees as she stared out at the water. 

Nicol smiled lightly and followed her gaze, sinking into his own thoughts as the waves splashed up against the side of the ship. It seemed like such a long time ago since this damn war had started and yet they had gotten nowhere. Their team was assigned one thing, bring down the ‘Legged Ship’ and they hadn’t even accomplished that. Hell, they hadn’t even come close. Given their number of mobile suits and the ones on that ship, their amount of notches in the losing column should have been down to at least one. It was all so pathetic. “What are we doing wrong?” he asked himself.

“Nothing,” Eclipse replied, hearing the quiet muttering. “There’s just more demons than angels in this world.”

“That’s a funny thing to say,” Nicol responded. “Are you implying that we’re the demons? Or the angels?”

“Perhaps we’re both, drifting back and forth from Heaven and Hell depending on the situation,” the redhead explained, sounding exhausted as she talked. “I must be in the middle right now because I feel very human at the moment.”

She buried her face in the nook between her knees after the statement. Nicol would have said she was crying, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She was stronger than that, he knew, and her stance alone proved that. Human, yes, she was human. Sitting in a fetal position only proved her point, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Every once and a while, I think it’s okay to feel human. It means you can look forward to being an angel, and you know you have the power to overcome your demonic side. Besides,” he added, feeling a bit foolish in his train of thought, but seeming to have some point behind it. “I think being human gives you more choices and the chance to learn from the bad decisions, right?”

 _Bad decisions?_ Eclipse asked herself, finding more irony in the words than probably even Nicol understood. “Have you ever made any bad decisions?” she asked, her question muffled down into the crook between her chest and her knees. She wanted to add, “Bad decisions that got your friends killed?” but withheld. He was trying to make her feel better, not get sucked into her bad mood with her.

She heard him shrug. “Plenty, but somehow I think you’re talking about something a little darker than, for example, wearing the wrong tie to a recital.”

Eclipse gave a small chuckle; she couldn’t help it. The innocence in the answer was refreshing and she lifted her head, leaning it back against the ship’s side. She sighed before turning to look at him.

“What?” he asked, surprised by her look but happy to see even the barest of smiles on her lips.

“Well, you going to tell me the story or not?”

He shook his head and turned back to the water. “I’m too embarrassed, to be completely honest, but there are, unfortunately, pictures.”

She laughed lightly again. “Then I have some research to do the next time we’re at port.”

“You wouldn’t dare…”

“Oh, I think you know me a bit better than that by now.” She laughed again. “I’m sure they’re not _that_ bad.”

He shrugged again and they slipped into a comfortable silence that time his eyes still trained on the water.

Eclipse closed her eyes, feeling the sun against her face for the first time in a couple of days. Knowing Stray had been killed wasn’t doing much for her mental health and being cooped up on board with her four, restless teammates wasn’t helping matters either. The sooner the _Archangel_ left Orb, the better.

“H-hey, look!” Nicol shouted suddenly, Eclipse opening her eyes and following his finger to something just off the bow. Jumping from the surface was a school of flying fish, their blue fins and scales reflecting the sunlight for a few seconds before they dove back into the water. More jumped from the water a second later, looking like a circus trying to entertain its audience. “I’ll get Athrun,” he announced, jumping to his feet and heading over to the other side of the ship.

Eclipse hadn’t even known the young commander was so close. Perhaps she should go apologize, but stopped herself. Yes, she might’ve been able to save Stray if she had killed FS sooner, but none of that mattered anymore; she had realized that too late. FS was going to answer to what he had done with Stray, just like the Strike pilot was going to pay. No, she had to keep pushing Athrun. If his EA friend was anything like FS—if only in circumstance—he could kill someone close to them. Better to get him before that happened.

Right?

Shaking her head, she just let the matter go, still not willing to move from her seat. It had been a couple of days since the Berserker had been seething in the Stealth’s cockpit and since then, she had just been so… exhausted. Her anger was gone. Not completely, but was definitely depleted enough to make her more melancholy than pissed. Eventually, when the battle would come up, she was sure she would be able to get that anger back, but she couldn’t help thinking, was it all worth it? She couldn’t bring anyone back to life, only avenge them. Satisfying for a little bit, maybe, but…

 _Don’t do that right now,_ she thought sharply. _The second you give up, is the second someone dies._

“Eclipse—hey!” Nicol called. “Come join us!” Apparently, Nicol had joined Athrun on the other side and stayed there. Based on the partial fins she saw off their side of the ship, the flying fish were over there as well. She sighed, not having the heart to deny the request. She had to get her head back on straight and the best way to do that, was to remind herself who she was trying to protect. Losing Stray had opened her eyes to one thing at least.

She didn’t want to lose anyone else.

* * *

“A ship is separating from the enemy fleet!” the intercom blared. They were all waiting in their mobile suits for this kind of report, but there was still no guarantee it was the _Archangel._ They waited anxiously for the confirmation, the universal communication line open for their team, but no one even dared breathe. They were positioned just outside of Orb territory and a fleet had left the nation that morning. They were in the spot to intercept, they just needed it to be the _right_ ship.

“Identifying…the ‘Legged Ship!’”

Eclipse smirked, Yzak said something unintelligent, and Dearka whistled. “Hah! Apparently, all that time gathering intelligence wasn’t a waste after all,” Nicol remarked, his admiration coming through clearly.

“We’re taking off! That ship goes down today!” Athrun announced, heaving a sigh of relief. While he wasn’t necessarily worried, he was still a bit uneasy. If something had gone wrong—even if he was sure it wouldn’t—not only would neither Yzak nor Dearka let him live it down, but Commander Le Creuset would have a few things to say as well. 

And those wouldn’t have been comforting either.

The Aegis launched first, followed immediately by the remaining four suits. They had discussed a plan of attack, but it didn’t involve more than take out the Strike first, and then go for the remaining pests and the _Archangel_. It was a simple plan, but given their past battles, it _had_ to work. The real pain in the ass was the Strike and as soon as that was destroyed, the others should be pretty easy to pick off. 

Well, ideally.

They had barely gotten into the air and had view of the _Archangel_ when the ship let loose a smoke screen, covering the ship and the Strike upon the deck in a matter of seconds. The redhead cursed when she saw the display while her teammates did the same. “A smoke screen?” Dearka muttered, shaking his head.

“They’re getting cute with us,” Yzak commented a second later. The others could only agree. While it may have seemed like a good tactic from the Earth Forces point of view, it just looked cowardly from ZAFT’s side. Given the victory column, the _Archangel_ shouldn’t have had to worry about such tactics, seeing as they had been winning most of their battles. If anything, the redcoats should’ve been given a handicap. Not like they would have taken it in the first place, but common courtesy should have kicked in by that point. 

The enemy ship launched two Skygraspers soon after, their movement showing up on the sensors. “I thought there was only one of those things. Now there’s two of them?” Yzak said, but no one had a good come back. Hell, they didn’t even have time to speak. The second the planes launched, a large plasma blast shot through the fog and nearly hit the clumped ZAFT soldiers. 

“Everyone scatter!” Athrun shouted once the shot dissipated, knowing they would be at a great disadvantage if they remained so tightly together. Given their state as friends, the closeness was a bit unusual, especially with the Duel hovering next to the Aegis. Battles were amazing on all spectrums apparently. 

Yzak and Dearka hooked off to the left, hoping to have a shot at the ship from that angle. Athrun and Nicol did the same to the right while Eclipse ascended, figuring she would get the small flies buzzing about the air. As she anticipated, the Strike attacked the Duel and Buster first and when one of the Skygraspers went to help, she cut it off with a downwards chop from the blade mounted to her left arm. The plane swerved at the last second and soared upward, narrowly missing the second attack from her right arm when she pulled it across her body. “Not bad for an insect,” she remarked, folding the blades back under her arms. It looked as if she had to use other methods to take that bug down. Eclipse figured the maneuver had more to do with luck than actual skill, but she was willing to give the pilot a break. Besides, underestimating her enemy would put her at a huge disadvantage.

The plane swung back around and fired a few rounds of bullets. The attack merely glanced off her left buckler, the bullets and their shells ricocheting down into the water to land harmlessly on the ocean floor. It was more of a nuisance than anything and when the Skygrasper flew past, she swung the Stealth around to issue her own spew of gunfire. The bullets spat out of the Stealth’s mouth with an embarrassing display of fervor. Eclipse could just hear the mechanics words echoing through her head and hated herself for being so susceptible to such mockery. The attack clipped the plane’s outer armor near the tail, but—like the Stealth—the bullets did no major damage. Smirking, the redhead just shook her head. What good was excellent aim if the weaponry wasn’t powerful enough to harm the enemy?

The Skygrasper flew off then, leaving the Stealth and the buzzing of her rear sensors behind. The _Archangel_ had appeared through the smoke screen and started its attack, firing its rear missiles at the seemingly defenseless redhead. Cursing, Eclipse cut her boosters and fell below the attack, reaching behind her back to grab the beam rifle and shoot down as many of the pesky missiles as she could. She managed to get four of the eight fired before the Skygrasper swung in low for another attack. Aiming its beam cannon, the plane calculated her descent and shot, hoping to destroy the Stealth before it even hit the water.

“You’re all just too damn optimistic,” Eclipse muttered and ignited her boosters, stopping her machine just above the beam. It scrapped across two of her HiMat feathers, but—for the most part—didn’t harm her suit. 

At least the beam didn’t. 

The missiles were still a major problem and even though Eclipse avoided one potentially fatal attack, it was going to be tough to evade two. She didn’t have Phase Shift like her teammates did and a couple of well-placed explosions from those things would take her out of the battle for sure. Perhaps even for good. Cursing, she pulled hard on the controls and pressed the petal to the ground, flying the Stealth a little bit upwards and to the right. Two missiles went between the suit’s legs, landing harmlessly in the water while the other two went out wide. She had been lucky that time and almost sighed until she felt a large shadow cross over her. Looking up, she stared at the underside of the _Archangel_ and the Valiant gun aimed directly at her. 

Eclipse’s instincts took over at that point. Bringing up her left hand, she fired the cannon in her left palm, watching as the thread of electricity shot out and wrapped around the barrel of the gun. She could just imagine the words to fire leaving the captain’s mouth, and watching the end of that gun glow yellow, the redhead felt a sweat drop trickle down her cheekbone. 

The electric shock damaged the Valiant, but not before it fired off a partial barrage. Pulling hard on the controls once more, Eclipse tried to turn the Stealth away, but the shots had been focused and penetrated the elbow joint of her left arm. The gun exploded within the next second, the force of the blast sending the redhead spiraling down into the water. 

The impact jostled her in the cockpit, making her, for the first time, happy the mechanics decided to give her a bit more personal space than the typical mobile suit. She definitely had a headache when everything calmed down, but that was more from the whiplash than from any kind of concussion. Her right forearm had snagged on something—but what she had no idea—creating a nice gash from the elbow down to the wrist. It wasn’t anything serious, and was just going to be more annoying than life threatening. _That was close._

The buzzers blared inside the cockpit and from the earpiece in her ear, reminding Eclipse of the current situation. If she didn’t get to the surface soon, things were going to get rather ugly. The first thing she checked was her battery and staring at the screen in front of her, she felt her face go pale. Her battery was drained and—as she found out a second later—thanks to an accurate piece of shrapnel, there was no way she could initiate HFC-EPR. The piece of metal had cut deep into her own suit, severing the connection to the fuel cells and if it wasn’t for the sudden drop into the water, her personal body parts would’ve been floating among the debris as well. The water coming in from her damaged arm and the hole made by the stray shrapnel flooded her suit enough to squelch any potential fire hazards. 

Now that was lucky.

“Coffee Addict, status,” she said into her head piece, bringing up an assortment of screens as the Stealth finally hitting an outcrop before the pressure could crush her suit. “Stealth needs pickup,” she called over her radio, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. The Stealth was still flooding and she could only hope the carrier submarine was nearby.

“Power at 0%, left arm immobile, propulsion limited,” Addict reported into her ear.

 _In other words, I’m fucked,_ Eclipse thought gravely, switching a few buttons on her console to grab someone’s attention. After everything that had happened, she couldn’t believe she was losing _again._ She had vowed to get revenge a many number of times, but each battle she participated in, she lost. How was that possible? She was revered as some monster and yet she hadn’t won a fight yet against this damn ship commanded by Naturals. Cursing, she could hear the Berserker laughing in the back of her mind. Yes, perhaps if she had given into her other half on a regular basis, she would be winning more, but was that _really_ something she wanted to do? Namarra had called it a drug, but if it helped, wouldn’t it be worth the addiction?

"Aegis, do you copy.” Nothing. “Athrun, can you hear me?” Still nothing. _Damn it._ Fiddling with the controls once more, she figured she should be able to move the limbs at least; try for some kind of swim technique in order to reach the surface. The legs kicked a few times, but stopped soon after with a sickening cry. 

“Mobility zero,” the Stealth stated in her ear.

“The shrapnel must’ve moved and cut another line. Damnit! Athrun, open your goddamn ears and answer me!” It was all so ridiculous. If he didn’t reply, it was either because he was fighting, or losing. Desperately, she tried the others, but it was the same outcome. _What the hell is going on up there?_

As if in answer, Eclipse saw another mobile suit hit the surface. At first, it was hard to make out the features, but when the current turned it, she nearly laughed out of pure joy. “Blitz, this is Stealth. Do you copy?” There was no immediate response, and when the current spun the machine again, she saw the severed right arm and cursed. Him too? “Nicol, are you okay? Nicol, answer me!”

“Eclipse, I’m fine. What’s your status? I don’t have a very good visual at the moment.”

The redhead gave a wry laugh. “I’m stranded on an outcrop _literally_ at your two o’clock. Mind lending me a hand?” She gave another laugh when the Blitz looked in her direction. She must have looked pitiful and the grin on his face probably held more surprise and grief than actual happiness, but it was all way too damn ironic to not seem funny. 

“Give me a sec.” Using his good arm, he fired one of his darts, having the metallic chord wrap around the suit’s waste. “Let me find some land then I’ll reel you in.”

“Roger that,” Eclipse responded, jerking along with the Stealth as the Blitz propelled them towards the nearest batch of land. Getting out of the water first, he made sure everything was decently clear before pulling the Stealth up onto the shore. 

“Now that—”

“—was embarrassing,” Eclipse finished for him, enjoying that few seconds of bliss before the battle slapped them back to reality. The Duel and the Buster were no where in sight, but judging by the shots by the _Archangel,_ they had to be somewhere in the water as well. Unlike Eclipse, however, they could still move. “What’d I miss?”

“The Strike’s kicking our ass and those damn planes are annoying mosquitoes but rather persistent,” he explained. “Ugh, how can we keep losing to them? Are they that lucky or are we just that _un_ lucky?” 

“Your guess is as good as mine. Are you still able to fight?”

“I’m beat up, but the Phase Shift is getting low.”

“I suggest finding the Aegis. No doubt he’s in the same condition and I hate the thought of anyone left alone—” Eclipse stopped, seeing that same red suit land about a mile away. The _Archangel_ attacked almost as soon as he hit the ground, apparently done with the Duel and the Buster. Athrun dodged the bullets, but when he pulled out his beam rifle, the Strike advanced and sliced it in half. It looked like a losing battle and with the state the Aegis was probably in, the redhead wasn’t too optimistic about the outcome. Flicking his wrist, the commander ignited his beam saber and tried to overtake the enemy that way, but everything was in the Earth Forces’ favor. The Strike merely evaded the attack and punched the Aegis away. It landed with a loud crunch on the ground, Phase Shift dissipating immediately. “Athrun! Nicol, we need to—” Stopping, she looked up to where the Blitz was, but saw… nothing.

Nicol was gone and time stopped; there was no other cliché way to put it.

He had disappeared and run to Athrun’s suit before Eclipse could finish her statement. He did it on instinct, that she knew, but since when did instinct revolve around self-sacrifice? Wasn’t the mind supposed to preserve the body?

Eclipse could feel the Berserker laughing that time, her laughter tickling her conscious as the blood drained from her cheeks. _Nicol, stop,_ she mouthed, locking the words inside of her head instead of shouting them. But what good could it have done? Nicol was already a few steps away from the Strike and her machine was still halfway out of the water, sensors buzzing like a radio station moving in and out of clarity. The signals snickered and hissed at her in sporadic spurts, reminding her of her helplessness and weaknesses at the same time. _If only I had—it’s just like before._

“Athrun, get out!” Nicol yelled, disengaging the Mirage Colloid just as he neared the enemy machine. Eclipse heard the words pour from his mouth and tried to hoist her unit back on land before he made the first attack.

The Strike moved first.

The dodge was textbook. So pretty, she would have congratulated the pilot after the fight if he wouldn’t have killed a comrade with that small movement. In fact, she was sure the Berserker was laughing at the display, finding the whole experience exhilarating. But Eclipse could never be so heartless, so she just stared, mouth agape and hands shaking on the controls.

The Strike ducked under Nicol’s frontal attack, its mechanical legs groaning at the awkward angle. Bracing himself, the pilot instinctively pulled his Schwert Gewehr blade upwards and out to the side, making an angled cut from the Blitz’s right hip into the cockpit.

Yes, the cockpit.

The Strike left the blade there as if to display his victory. It was such a merciless thing to do and watching the heat from the beam searing at the metal—melting it away from the skeleton of the machine—the redhead could only imagine the pilot’s suffering. The blade eating away at his flesh all thanks to one moment of heroism. Only because he was a loyal friend.

Eclipse screamed.

“A-Athrun, r-run,” Nicol barely managed, the Aegis pilot being the only one able to hear the words over the redhead’s agonizing cry. He didn’t dare believe what was happening. Could such an individual die? Could someone like Nicol deserve death? Catching his breath in his throat, he raised a hand up as if to snatch the musician from the cockpit himself. _Nicol can’t—_

The Blitz exploded.

“Nicol!” he cried, but Eclipse’s scream tore through the frequency louder, making Athrun throw off his helmet in a panic. There was more behind that scream than anger and he didn’t feel as if he had the right to hear something so painful. In fact, the commander didn’t even think there was any anger in that sound at all.

Agony; pure agony.

The Strike remained motionless on the ground, staring at the empty space where the Blitz once stood. Was he shocked? Or just mocking them with silent laughter? Whatever the cause for such hesitation, the battle was over and the Earth Alliance had gained the upper hand. _But not for long,_ Athrun swore, debating whether or not to attack the stunned machine in front of him. His suit didn’t have enough energy to do any major damage, but he was pissed enough to have his anger do more damage than any kind of weapon. Pulling on one lever, he felt his unit rise, but he hadn’t gotten very far before the _Archangel_ came into view. Cursing softly, he stopped. Dearka and Yzak had resurfaced from the water by that time, sending a barrage at the Strike no matter how close the _Archangel_ was. They were just as pissed and could do a little more damage.

Futile.

The _Archangel_ wasn’t about to abandon its prized pilot, shooting an array of weaponry down at the ZAFT units. While the bullets could have damaged the suits, it didn’t seem as if the Earth Alliance ship was trying to do such a thing, merely scare them into retreating. Unfortunately, it had worked. The Strike had already jumped out of harm’s way and ignited its boosters, flying to the safety of the battleship’s hangar. Athrun thought of trying to speak to Kira before he disappeared but stopped himself. What could he say? Thanks for killing a friend? He was beyond words, so the commander just let him go.

Another time they could talk.

Or just fight.

“We’re retreating,” Athrun ordered over the frequency after he had put his helmet back over his head. “Head back to the carrier. I’ll grab the Stealth.” 

"Yes, sir,” Dearka had responded, but Yzak remained silent. However, the Duel obeyed a second later, following the Buster away from the battle zone. Not even he was reckless enough to chase after the _Archangel_ then. The team had no other choice than to regroup. No matter how frustrating that was.

The communication cut off, leaving Athrun alone in his cockpit once more. The scene played out in his mind on an endless loop and he ground his teeth together. He looked at the visual of the Stealth on his screen, still hearing nothing from its pilot. He remembered her scream though and he shivered. He couldn’t blame her—hell, he felt like screaming himself—but they had to keep a level head. That was the best course of action.

Right?

“Stealth, status,” he called over the line, taking a step in her direction. Glancing sideways at the _Archangel,_ the pilot made sure it wasn’t trying to capture either his suit or the Stealth. He doubted they would risk everything for the one chance to grab the enemy, but he had to make sure. After everything that had happened, there was no way in hell he was going to give anyone else up. “Eclipse, respond.”

“Left arm missing.” She began after another pause, “Power to main battery severed, back thrusters and legs unresponsive. Mobility zero.” She sounded sassy—or even bitchy was a good description—and reluctant to answer. Her voice was a bit scratchy and the sound alone made Athrun curse.

“Roger that, Stealth. I’m coming to pick you up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sir. Everyone was being so damned formal and he wanted to correct them, but he couldn’t find the strength to. That’s right, he was supposed to be the strong one.

Question was, could he be?

* * *

Eclipse waited in the hanger while the rest of her team switched outfits in the locker room. She decided to let them go first for no other reason than because she didn’t want to change yet. Changing meant she really was helpless to do anything and it wasn’t a feeling she wanted to experience just then. When in doubt, bury the conscience in work. “What d’ya think?”

“I think you need to stop being so reckless,” the mechanic grumbled, eyeing the Stealth angrily. He looked to be a guy in his mid-thirties, but with his eyebrows furled, he seemed about fifty. Perhaps it wasn’t something the redhead should bring up.

“There’s no such thing as a non-reckless battle. Removing the shrapnel and fixing the battery connection should be basic enough—”

“If not time consuming.”

“—but the left arm is what I’m worried about,” Eclipse continued. “I could fight without it, if need be. Just have to stabilize it.”

“We do have an extra arm we can put in its place, but given the situation, I’m thinking you’re all gonna fly out here again soon. Looking at the Aegis, we might not be able to get both suits done in time.”

“As soon as I get my orders, I’ll come in and help—”

“No,” the mechanic interrupted, pointing a firm finger at her. “Get cleaned up and rested first. What’s the point of fixing a machine if the pilot is too exhausted to use it properly? You do your job and we’ll do ours.”

Eclipse was going to argue, but the man had walked away, leaving her behind to just let her anger boil. She had wanted to keep working in order to keep her mind off of Nicol’s death, but now she had just been ordered to take a nap and dream about it. 

Ridiculous.

Subconsciously, she had been staring at the Blitz’s empty dock, and snapping to, she just cursed and turned towards the locker room. What good was resting going to do? She’d just end up lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and thinking. No, she wasn’t going to give into her grief just yet. Time to get her orders.

“Why did he have to die like that? And why out here? Well?” Yzak’s shouting startled Eclipse. For some reason, she thought no one would even bring up the subject, choosing to mourn in his own way. The team had never been so emotional with each other and Nicol was really the only one holding them all together. What was going to happen now that he was gone? Was someone supposed to fill in that spot?

Eclipse hesitated before grabbing the handle. After the outburst, she really didn’t want to go in anymore. Was she scared? Perhaps, and even her anger wasn’t doing anything. A part of her had hoped the Berserker would just take over and numb her to it all, but instead her mind could only replay his death mercilessly. _Damn it all._

She almost left altogether, fleeing to her Stealth and the small comfort that mechanical voice gave, but a louder sound from inside gave her enough incentive to turn the handle. Athrun had Yzak pinned against the locker, hands gripping the collar of his suit. It looked like any other argument until Eclipse saw a glimpse of tears in his eyes—well, both of their eyes actually. Dearka stood opposite her, looking just as helpless as the redhead felt. _It’s all so ridiculous and yet—can—can I blame them?_

“Why don’t you say it, Yzak? It was my fault! He only died because he was trying to save _me_!” Athrun shouted, tightening his grip. His hands trembled with the effort, but judging by the look on the commander’s face, it looked to be out of restraint. Athrun didn’t want to hit his comrade, but things were moving so fast his psyche just couldn’t handle it anymore. So, he broke.

Yzak said nothing, just grabbed the commander’s hands and tried to dislodge them. The Duel pilot seemed to be his angry self, but slammed up against the lockers like he was, Yzak just looked defeated. Even his struggling held little strength, so did he want Athrun to hit him? Perhaps it would’ve made him feel a little better. Hell, it probably would’ve made both of them feel better.

“A-Athrun! You too Yzak,” Dearka began, taking a step forward. “Fighting each other isn’t gonna help us one bit. Remember the Strike is our real enemy!” That seemed to snap them out of it. Yzak shook his commander off and pushed him out of the way, stomping past his blonde comrade and out the door without even changing. “Y-Yzak!” Dearka shouted, running after him.

Eclipse and Athrun were left alone. The redhead hadn’t even stepped fully into the locker room, standing in the doorway and debating whether or not to talk her commander. She could try and comfort him, but what good would that do? She wanted her Berserker to take all the pain, so it wasn’t as if she was able to do any emotional consoling. Sighing, she gave in and stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.

Athrun heard her come in, but couldn’t turn around to face her. After everything she had said only a few days earlier, how could he even think his words would have any volume; mean anything? Surprisingly, she hadn’t snapped. He half expected her to be at his throat, shoving him against the locker—much like he had just done to Yzak—however, unlike the commander’s little outburst, she would have probably done more to him than just scream in his face. But in that moment, Athrun realized, he wasn’t scared of her. In fact, he probably would have retaliated, if only because he was just as upset. Anything she would have said would have set him off in an instant.

After all, Nicol died protecting _him_.

“What are you going to do?” Eclipse asked softly and took a step forward. It was a small gesture, but one that she saw had made Athrun tense. Was he expecting more than just talk? The commander still said nothing and she pressed again. “Ath—”

The redhead barely got his name out before he snapped to her side and pinned her against the same locker as he had Yzak. Pushing his forearm up under her chin and grabbing her lower arm with the other, he braced himself against the bench behind him. He couldn’t underestimate her abilities, but looking into her eyes, he knew she wouldn’t do anything to change her situation. Why? He wanted she scream then, but leaned forward instead, his face inches away from hers, and straddled her lower body, making her escape even more impossible. 

“You want to say it, don’t you?” he snapped, the words coming out in a breathless threat. “Why don’t you? Bask in your little victory?” 

Eclipse did nothing, matching his glare with a blank one of her own. The breath on her face was hot and moist, matching the eyes she was staring into, however—unlike that breath—they flickered with a deeper anger. She watched those green eyes carefully, seeing them break in and out of that lifeless expression she had seen on her own face countless times. Was he like her? Just not awakened yet?

“Well?” he pressed, tightening his grip on her pinned forearm, feeling the clamminess in his fingers and palms thanks to the open wound and tear in her pilot suit. Apparently, he wasn’t as angry as she thought. No, he was more scared than anything and—most likely—feeling terribly guilty. But was guilt enough to make him snap? Anger was what always triggered her. Was it different for each person?

“Why won’t you say anything?”

“What did you want me to say?”

“What you’re supposed to say!”

“And what’s that, huh? Where’s my script, let me look it up.”

“Stop being such an ass!” Athrun yelled, pressing his face near hers. Eclipse got a good look at his eyes then, still flickering back and forth between lifeless and warmth. However, there was still something different about them; a difference that actually made the redhead sad. While his eyes may have begun clouding over, his pupils remained, giving even the heartless look a sense of humanity.

Maybe he wasn’t like her after all.

He stared at her a bit longer before Eclipse just sighed, placing the free hand on his shoulder and pushing him away. He resisted at first, but slowly he backed up. “And why would I take pleasure in this?” she asked, but he didn’t respond. “You have to calm down _commander_ and think of what we’re going to do next. Do we pursue them right away? The Aegis was pretty damaged, but we can quicken the repairs if we just give the other suits more ammo. The Stealth’s in an ugly position right now, but as soon as I’m patched up, I’ll help quicken the repairs.” Still, Athrun said nothing, plopping down on the nearest bench and staring at the clenched fists in his lap. At any other time, the redhead probably would have left him with his thoughts, but they were losing valuable time. He had to make a decision.

_Smack._

Athrun shook off his surprise as his hand instantly went to the stinging skin on his face. A slap seemed liked cheating after everything that had happened, but when he looked up at Eclipse, he realized no foul play had taken place. A couple of tears welded up in the corners of her eyes, making him feel guilty for not registering that she had felt the same as him. As everyone else on their team.

“Do you want revenge or not?” she spat, her own eyes starting their flickering to her Berserker half. Not even Eclipse could hide her emotions for an extended period of time.

“Is that really the answer?”

“Do we have a choice?”

 _Did_ they have a choice? Her words had wounded a part of him, but replaying Nicol’s death in his mind, he _knew_ they had to retaliate. Kira had gone too far and it was his own fault Nicol had died. “Get cleaned up,” he ordered, “and try to get as much rest as you can. We’ll send out another attack as soon as the mobile suits are running and before our anger subsides.”

“Roger that,” Eclipse responded, and left the room, not bothering to change either. She would leave Athrun to his thoughts and let him grieve. No doubt he had more conflicting emotions than she did.

The Berserker just wanted the Strike destroyed.

* * *

“So, do you think she’ll take the bait?” Phoebe asked, leaning her chin on the back of the chair as she sat in it backwards. She always felt it was more comfortable sitting that way, but found it hard convincing the others. Even though there was no back rest, she at least could fall asleep if need be. 

FS didn’t respond right away, watching his companion silently from his seat near the computer. They had gone over this scenario plenty of times before, but still she kept asking him to repeat himself. Frankly, it was getting annoying—and them being so suspicious wasn’t exactly comforting—but he had to keep indulging her or he would lose his position. 

“I’m with Phoebe on this one, I don’t think she’s gonna bite,” Melanie added to her sister’s right. She was lying comfortably on the floor, pulling on the shaggy carpet like some monkey would flees. Unfortunately, FS was used to those two always hanging out in his room, but—for once—he wished they’d let him do _some_ work. As it stood, they had more “playtime” than actual work time. Depending on his mood, that could’ve been a good thing or a bad thing.

Right then, it was bad.

“Finding that other assassin wasn’t easy, girls, and even if the info we sent isn’t necessarily true, it’s enough to get Eclipse sweating at least.”

“And what’s the point of that? Why do we care so much about her anyway?” Phoebe asked.

“To be honest, Gluttony was the only one to give a shit, but since he’s stuck up in space for now, I’m hoping to get a little time with her myself. Either she comes to our side or she’s dead. It’s as simple as that.”

“Wow,” Melanie began, “why the change of heart?”

“I’m just exhausted,” FS explained, rubbing his temples at the thought. “I’m not about to go out of my way to talk some sense into her if she doesn’t want to do it. I’m neither persistent nor patient.”

“But what about that other girl?” Melanie asked. “I have a feeling they’ll come together.”

“That’s where you two come in. Leave Lexi to me, and you two do as you please. I really don’t care about her.”

The girls smiled at that and gave each other a high five, laughing afterwards like some children at recess. FS merely sighed, looking away from the immature display to stare at the black screen. If Eclipse came running after that message he sent, she had grown soft. Sure, her and Stray had some kind of connection that he never seemed to be in on, but she was leaving herself vulnerable if she wanted to play some wounded hero. Still, it was all the same to him. Those two Berserkers were the main obstacles in his way. He didn’t like the prospect of challenging them, but now he really had no choice. _I can’t wait to see you again,_ FS thought, waving the girls out of his room. _Let’s see where this story of ours will take us, shall we?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, I'm putting these up as I see fit. Not getting much feedback one way or another so it could be a good thing or a bad thing. ;) I'm just plowing forward.
> 
> So, this is it, this is the chapter where Nicol dies... It was a tough one to write, but I'm staying close to canon and it's a very vital death scene, unfortunately. Man... Tears at my heart every time I read it... Well, what did you think? Did I do it justice? This is the beginning of the shift, really, for the series in general, so I think we can all expect some darkening times ahead.I'm looking forward to you all joining me for the ride.
> 
> Oh, as a note, my original version of this story didn't have the first two sections of this chapter. I added them now because the original shift was too jarring and readers, at the time, had been curious to know what had been the interaction between Athrun and Eclipse. Hopefully, this transition is a bit better and fills in a few more gaps.
> 
> Since this chapter and the next one are so pivotal to the series, I'm curious to know what people think. 
> 
> Thanks, as always, for taking a moment out of your busy lives to have a read. See you all in the next chapter when it's the Aegis vs. the Strike.
> 
> Strata


	36. More than Comrades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athrun vs. Kira. Namarra vs. Lust. Eclipse vs. Pride. Seriously, what could go wrong?

** More than Comrades **

As soon as Eclipse had left the locker room—deciding not to change right away—she went straight for the infirmary, looking for some sort of bandage to put on her arm. The cut wasn’t deep—in fact, it was a little thing that probably wouldn’t even bleed more than it already had—but was at a high enough annoyance level to receive a bandage. Once that was done, she had walked back to her room and crashed on her bed, refusing to get up for anything other than to use the bathroom.

And she did that often.

Nicol’s death had done more to her psychologically and physically than she had thought possible. The Berserker subsided as soon as she got back to her room, leaving the redhead with bruises she didn’t remember getting and an ache in her chest she thought would go away after a nap. Optimistic thinking was never her forte and after lying down for only a couple of minutes, she was soon sitting at the rim of the toilet vomiting what little food she had in her stomach.

Her head pounded with the effort and only when round two was over did she completely give up and collapse onto the floor, tears streaming down sweaty cheeks out of grief more than pain.

Two more were gone.

Nicol was gone.

Stray was gone.

A part of her wanted to call Namarra a liar, saying there was no way FS could do such a thing, but after all of her training—and her friends’ as well—the probability was still rather high. FS was good at masking his feelings, or lack thereof in that instance. Putting a gun to Stray’s head was probably fun to him by now and thinking about that made the nausea return. Curling up into a ball, she hugged her stomach as it threatened to come up through her esophagus. There was nothing left to throw up, yet it was masochistically convincing. Rolling onto her knees, she heaved into the toilet once more.

Out of all the team members, why did it have to be Nicol? Not like she wanted one person to die over another, but what had Nicol done to deserve that? Who was he? Just a loyal friend and because of that he was killed. The damn Strike destroyed him and after all the times they had lost to him, wasn’t about time they won? Wasn’t it about time _they_ humiliated the Earth Forces? Were they not strong enough? Not skilled enough?

Done, Eclipse fell back onto the floor, curling into the fetal position as she cried onto the tiles. _I’m supposed to be some powerful, all-important being and all I’m doing is losing._ She had been the “top” of the trainees on Januarias 4 but she had yet to prove anything other than her ability to destroy some renegade ZAFT soldiers. But what good was that? SIN-ED had little involvement in the overall war and yet she could kill them and not the people threatening her team? Why couldn’t she destroy the _Archangel_? What cruel demon would be sadistic enough to stop her from killing her enemies, but give her the power to destroy the people in an organization set up by her only friends?

She had no answers and her grief-filled mind wasn’t going to tell her anything logical. The only thing she could do was blame herself and hope guilt was a big enough barrel of fuel to help her in the next battle. If it wasn’t, she was sure the guilt would grow and lead her—most likely—back to a state of mind she was finally drifting away from. Her cold mindset from before may have saved her a couple toilet visits and tears, but was it worth going back to? After all of this, could she even regress that far?

 _I dunno,_ she admitted, rolling onto her back when she figured her vomiting escapade had subsided. _But these attachments might be making me soft. If I want to do anything productive, I have to stop this pity fest and do what I was trained to do._ Sighing, she wiped her hands across her face, smearing the tears. _So, it’s about time I took things seriously._

Pulling her hands away, the Berserker flickered anxiously behind her eyes.

* * *

“Maintain trim. Twenty to ocean’s surface,” the intercom blared, causing Eclipse to tap the levers impatiently. She hadn’t been in the control room when the _Archangel_ had been spotted, but she didn’t need the visual contact to get a rush of adrenaline. In her mind, the Stealth was more important than sitting around staring at radars. Besides, finding a suitable back-up arm was more of a pain than she anticipated. All the ship had in storage were spare GINN parts and given the short amount of time—plus lack of equipment—they weren’t able to wire any sort of cannon into the palm. Understandable but a bit unnerving as well. She had come to rely on that weapon as of late.

“Anti-air defense, stand by.”

“Bring fire control online!”

The rest of the Stealth was relatively easy to manage. The HiMat system and battery damage were repaired quickly thanks to Eclipse’s help, and—because of the extra person—the other suits were done in time as well. The only downside was, none of them had gotten a proper rest.

“Sound alarm!”

“Surfacing!”

 _No sense in worrying about that now,_ Eclipse thought, having way too much adrenaline pumping to even think about sleep. Besides, the Berserker was way too excited. She had let her other half take over as soon as she climbed into the cockpit. At first, she was weary about the decision, but the Berserker’s enthusiasm calmed her a bit. 

Yes, it was time to get serious.

The sun was rising when the four of them launched, but no one seemed to be bothered by the sudden brightness. If anything, it might help. Perhaps they would catch their enemies off guard and use the sunlight as some kind of distraction. Or, maybe, the crew would be too sluggish to respond right away.

Well, it was a hopeful proposition, but not entirely realistic.

The three others landed on their Guuls, taking a second to adjust before heading off towards the coming shadow in the distance. The Stealth followed closely behind, Eclipse having to make some last second adjustments to the HiMat system before it was able to fly smoothly. Athrun made some worried comment about it, but the Berserker cut him off, telling him—in not so many words—to butt out and concentrate on destroying the enemy. He didn’t say much after that.

The two armies immediately began their shooting fest as soon as they came in range of each other. The Strike was positioned on the rear deck, firing at the Guuls as they flew by. So far, the Zala team’s large amount of luck was holding fast, nothing hitting anything vital on either the mobile suits or their transportation. Actually, that was a good thing on many levels. It meant they had a chance in taking down the ship if the Strike wasn’t at his full potential and the ZAFT redcoats were taking the fight seriously enough to evade anything coming at either direction. 

Perhaps there _was_ hope after all.

Dearka let loose a barrage from his rifle, showering the outside of the _Archangel_ just below the bridge. The armor, unfortunately, sustained little damage, causing a scowl to appear on the blond’s face. After all the hard work they had been doing, he figured one of them would be able to penetrate the ship’s superb defenses, but so far the battle was turning out like any other one. And, much like the other fights, the annoying Skygrasper came to fire at him first. 

Eclipse was thinking about their losing predicament as well when she was forced to the left to avoid the _Archangel’s_ Gottfrieds. No matter how serious her team had gotten, their enemies were still very good. The beams shot harmlessly by, dissipating in the air as the Stealth made a straight path towards the giant cannon. Those things were dangerous and while disabling them may not turn the battle directly in their favor, it would help. Well, by this point anything would help. 

The Igelstellungs aimed and fired at the Berserker as she neared, forcing her suit to veer to the left in order to avoid the attack. The movement took her a little off course, but stopping and spinning in the air put her right next to the port side Gottfried. Already aimed in her direction, the cannon glowed green as it prepared to fire. Eclipse smirked and reached around her back for a beam rifle, sending two shots down into the barrels. Cutting her thrusters, she dropped towards the water before the Igelstellungs could start another deadly barrage. Smiling to herself, she saw the cannon explode and sped off to a safe distance when her sensors picked up the port side Valiant locking onto her position. 

Looking for the others, the Berserker let out a quick laugh when she saw them adding similar damage to the ship. Perhaps her worrying had been foolish after all. 

Taking another second to assess the situation, Eclipse saw the Duel attacking the Strike near the rear deck. It looked like a fairly even match and, laughing again, she saw Yzak gain the upper hand and force the Strike out of the air and back onto the ship. As much as she wanted to join in on that fight, she figured it was Yzak’s time to have his go. After all, the Berserker had had her fun a few times before and no matter how bruised her ego was, taking down the _Archangel_ was a perfectly good consolation prize.

Dearka had the Skygrasper occupied and since the Strike was battling the Duel, it was a perfect opportunity for Athrun and Eclipse to sink the ship. “Stealth, I’m gonna take out the levitator and perhaps a rear engine. Mind keeping them distracted?”

“Roger that,” the Berserker responded, speeding back towards the ship. She rounded over to the defenseless port side once more, managing to damage two of the Igellstellungs on the deck before the _Archangel_ launched its side missiles. Pulling backwards on the controls, the Stealth did a flip to avoid the first two missiles aiming for her legs. They scooted harmlessly under the suit, crashing against the water and skipping wildly to hit some rocks on a nearby island. Three more she shot from the sky and the others she evaded easily enough. Done with that waltz, she sped back towards the ship just as Athrun’s attacks damaged its levitator and sent it plummeting to the water’s surface. 

Smiling again, Eclipse landed on the small island nearby, catching her breath and evaluating the situation. The _Archangel_ was down for now, meaning limited use of its weaponry and an easy target for the ZAFT redcoats. Dearka was still preoccupied with the Skygrasper, managing a few hits here and there on the damaged ship, but nothing serious. Athrun was assessing the battle like she was, hovering a safe distance from the _Archangel_ as he tried to come up with a new plan of action. The Berserker smirked at that, wondering what he was going to order her to do. Destroy an engine? Attempt to break into the ship’s hanger—since most of the front weaponry was damaged—and have some fun? Or maybe he’d send her directly to the bridge and just finish it quickly.

Each plan was better than the last.

Feeling a fit of laughter build up in her stomach, she gripped the controls tighter, trying to calm herself back down. She couldn’t go insane from relief just yet because neither the Strike nor the _Archangel_ were destroyed. No one was avenged just yet. _Speaking of the Strike,_ Eclipse thought, scanning the air for the fight between the Duel and that dreaded suit. She didn’t think she could have lost sight of them so easily, but seeing nothing show up on her screen and hearing no victory call form Yzak made her a bit nervous about the situation. The Duel wasn’t destroyed—she _wouldn’t_ have missed something like that—so, where were they? “Athrun, do you have a visual of—“ The Berserker stopped, seeing the Strike out of the corner of her eye as it jumped at her from the right.

Pulling the beam rifle—still in her hand—up to block, she jumped backwards just as the Strike cut through the weapon and landed. Panicking for a moment, she wondered what had happened to the Duel. It wasn’t in the air, there was a lot of debris in the water—

“No,” she spat, shaking the thought out of her head. 

The Strike had started his attack while she was arguing with herself, running at her with his beam saber in his right hand. Flicking a switch on the console, the Stealth’s red beam saber dropped into her right hand, allowing her to bring it up in time to parry the attack. Pushing the blades out wide, she let loose a barrage of CIWS bullets, spitting the little annoyances at her enemy’s cameras, hoping to blind him. Some of the bullets hit around the area, but the Strike had brought his shield up to block the rest of the attack before it could do any more damage. Cursing, Eclipse tried to bring her blade back around, but her enemy blocked that one too, forcing her suit off balance and tumbling to the ground. She ignited her boosters at the last second to try and avoid serious damage, but the Strike was falling with her, slamming its left leg down onto the Berserker’s right arm and pinning her to the ground. 

Throwing the shield to the side, the Strike grabbed his saber in both hands, brought the blade over his head, and then pulled it down towards the Stealth. Eclipse reached across her body to pull out the blue beam saber, blocking the Strike’s downward chop before it could do any serious damage to the Stealth. If the weapon had been spring-loaded like the one in her other arm—and if the Strike hadn’t have been standing on her right hand—she may have been quick enough to block and counterattack. But since the only spare left arm that could be quickly connected to her machine had been found in a pile of GINN parts, the saber was placed at the Stealth’s hip. Perhaps the Strike’s lunge at her right side had been planned after all.

Her suit whined as the pressure built, making the Berserker inside sweat as her enemy’s blade came dangerously close to the cockpit. If she could push the blade up and away, she’d be free, but given the circumstance, it was going to be a tricky move. The Strike had all of its weight on her right arm and shoulder, leaving her with no leverage and practically no mobility. However, his positioning had also thrown him a little off balance. While that was hard to tell from the power in his attack, Eclipse spared a glance at his right leg. Bent awkwardly to the side, it was stabilized in between the Stealth’s legs and one quick swipe could send him toppling over. The only problem was, what about the blade? Knowing it was a risk she had to take, the Berserker curled her right foot up, unsheathed the knife in the toes and kicked inward. The attack hit the Strike right behind the kneecap, grazing the metal.

The kick didn’t do much damage—it was too hard of an angle to get a perfect shot—but it caused enough of a distraction to shove her enemy’s attack out and to the left. Despite all of that, however, she was still in a very defensive position. If the Strike pilot was smart, he wouldn’t panic and jump back. All he had to do was bring his saber back up and attack again.

But the Berserker understood humanity too well.

The Strike pilot _did_ panic and jumped into the air, firing an array of bullets at her as he ascended. Bringing up her buckler, she deflected most of the attack and let her suit handle the rest as she rolled out of the way. Knowing her armor wasn’t as powerful as the Phase Shift kind her comrades had, she guessed another attack like that would get her killed. 

Such a pleasant thought.

“Right arm 78 percent functional. Outer armor still in tact, but you’re lucky to be alive, dumbass.”

The last comment the Stealth made caused Eclipse to hesitate for moment. When the hell did that thing get so sassy? Deciding to contemplate her machines obnoxious personality another time, she watched the Strike land about 50 meters from her current position. As soon as its feet touched the ground, it leapt towards her, apparently ready for more sword play. “78 percent is still a good number,” the Berserker muttered. Blocking his forward thrust upward with her left hand, she ducked low and pulled the red blade upward. The attack should have been fool proof, but the Strike’s reflexes were quicker than she anticipated. At the last second, her enemy ignited his boosters and sped off to her left. The red blade seared through some straggling fingers, but seeing as the rest of the suit was in good shape, the Strike wasn’t about to miss the tip of his left middle finger. Cursing, she spun around to face him. He stopped quite a ways away, almost collapsing on his damaged leg when he set back down.

Perfect.

The Berserker smirked, dropped her left blade to the ground and drew out an EARP Dagger at her hip. Going more for the effect then for the damage, she threw it in the Strike’s direction. As planned, her enemy threw up his shield, stumbling backwards when the dagger exploded and sent the pathetic defense falling to the ground in a mangled heap. Eclipse had lunged at the Strike as soon as she let loose the dagger, swerving to the right to fly in at the defenseless side. Being so preoccupied with the shield, the Strike didn’t have time to evade the attack like he had all the others. Bringing his right arm up in defense, he attempted to block the Berserk’s slash, but could only watch helplessly as the beam cut through the armor and graze past the cockpit during its decent. 

She had him.

Eclipse was going to pull the blade back across her body and cut the Strike in two when she realized he wasn’t as helplessly watching the show as she had first thought. The Strike pivoted with the blow, having pulled a combat dagger from its left leg and aimed the blade directly at the Stealth’s head. Cursing, the Berserker tried ducking under the attack, but she had seen it too late. The blade cut into the Stealth’s temple, but didn’t go as far as Eclipse thought it would. Sure, the blow would have crippled her suit, but she still had the upper hand so she was willing to give him that one attack. Besides, she had a good counter, but the Aegis decided to step in. Or at least that’s what she deduced from the red hand stopping the attack. 

The Stealth’s cameras flickered sporadically as Athrun pulled out the dagger and shoved the Strike aside. However, her radio was working just fine. “You’ve done enough, Eclipse. It’s my turn.”

“Your turn?” the Berserker asked, sounding quite amused with the order. “What, we have a time limit now or something?”

“My friend, my kill. It’s only fair, right? After all, I’m not about to go and kill off the friend who betrayed you now am I?”

Eclipse hated it when he was trying to be reasonable.

The Strike stood motionless across from them, most likely trying to deduce what their plan was as well as figure out how much damage his suit had sustained. Knowing the Aegis was practically unscathed, the Strike pilot couldn’t have felt too optimistic. 

The Berserker watched her enemy carefully going back and forth from him to Athrun as if deciding between duty and revenge. It was a very tough decision, but seeing as the flickering cameras were already making her sick, she didn’t think she could hold out much longer anyway. As long as the Strike was destroyed, it didn’t really matter who did it, right? “Fine, but I’m stepping back in if you’re screwing things up.”

Eclipse could hear the smile on his lips when he responded, “Yes, ma’am.” Shaking out of his grip, she retreated to different—but still close—island to get a damage report before going to help out Dearka with the _Archangel_. As soon as she landed in a relatively safe position she shut off the cameras and—no matter how risky it was—opened the cockpit in order to watch the battle. “Coffee Addict, damage report.”

“Right arm still 78 percent functional, thruster output at 54 percent, and battery at 25 percent. Cameras at 30 percent visibility,” it responded obediently, almost making the Berserker forget about the attitude problem it was having earlier. That was definitely something she would have to check up on later. A lightning bolt streaked across the sky as the evaluations continued, causing Eclipse to glance away from the swordplay and upwards to the clouds. She couldn’t believe she had missed such and obvious display of an angry Mother Nature. This storm might hurt their team more than anything. And if they were forced to retreat… “Stealth, what’s your position?” Dearka asked, bringing the Berserker back to the battle.

“I’m right next to the Aegis and Strike battle. Currently my cameras are damaged, but might be of _some_ help to you. There’s just a few adjustments needed to be made to my OS and then I’m headed your way. How’re you faring?”

“I’m doing all right, but don’t know how much assistance you’re gonna be without good visual.” 

A curse followed the statement and Eclipse wished she could see his battle. As it was, she was afraid to try the cameras again until she could finish her adjustments. “The Duel?”

“Fell into the ocean and picked up. The ship’s helping me as much as it can, but…” He trailed off and the Berserker nodded to herself. 

“I’ll be there as quickly as I can.” Even damaged she knew how formidable the _Archangel_ crew was. She had to get over there fast. 

Glancing up from her work, she watched the battle between Athrun and the Strike. They were exchanging blow for blow and neither of them looked to be gaining the upper hand. That could be both a good thing and a bad one. She knew the Aegis’s battery had to be running low—from using his beam rifle so much—and if the fight went on any longer, he may not last. That thought made her freeze. Should she stay and keep an eye on Athrun then? Didn’t she say she would jump in if anything happened? After all, one flick of a switch and her battery would be fully charged again. But what about Dearka and the rest of her team? She couldn’t just leave them either, no matter how little of help she would be with her remaining beam rifle. _Damn it,_ she cursed, glancing quickly through the OS and making some changes. 

“Cameras only functioning at 52 percent,” the mechanical voice said. “You would still be of little help to anyone.”

“Shut the hell up!” Eclipse yelled, not even grasping the concept that she was arguing with a computer. “I can see more than I could before, can’t I?” Suddenly, an explosion outside sent a strong wind, some small debris, and heavy raindrops racing through the cockpit’s open doorway. The Berserker cowered away from the blast and ran out onto the cockpit door as soon as it subsided. The Aegis and Strike were still battling, so where had the explosion come from? Cursing, Eclipse wished she hadn’t been arguing with her machine and not being able to hear the transmission between the two pilots only made things worse. The mobile suits stood on the ground motionless for a few seconds until, suddenly, they started attacking each other recklessly. The Strike had gained the upper hand right away and looking at his movements, the Berserker whistled quietly. They were different; very different. She had seen these moves before in the desert when Commander Waltfeld had thought him a Berserker. Eclipse had decided then the pilot wasn’t but judging by the frantic—but still deliberate—movements, she knew he was pretty damn close. 

And then the Aegis started doing the same thing.

“What the hell—” she started, but never finished, hearing another call from Dearka.

“Stealth, where—” The transmission cut off and before Eclipse could step inside to respond, a more powerful explosion rattled her suit and sent her flying back into her seat.

* * *

Eclipse wasn’t entirely sure what had happened. One minute she was admiring the battle between the Aegis and the Strike and the next minute the Berserker was gone and she had a huge bump on the back of her head; a throbbing, migraine-making bump that caused her to let out a string of curses in frustration. The Stealth hadn’t moved from its position, still kneeling across from the island where the two mobile suits had been fighting. Rubbing the back of her head once more, she shifted into a sitting position and closed the cockpit. How long had she been out? Should she retreat? But where could she go? Back to a ship she wasn’t sure was still there? Should she just run away? When had the battle ended?

Did it end?

The HiMat wings were out of commission again, frustrating the Berserker more than anything when she realized the explosion may have forced the suit back against the rocks. Yes, it was a new program, but shouldn’t the kinks be out of it by now? There went optimism down the hole again. The battery was dead, but the simple flick of a switch activated the HFC-EPR, restoring the power with a moaning noise edging on a scream.

“St..th, do…copy?”

The transmission barely came through, almost causing Eclipse to miss it entirely. However, she caught the end and responded. “Stealth here, what’s the situation?”

“You sh…ow more…us,” it responded.

Frustrated, the Berserker made a few adjustments. “The Stealth’s all right, just can’t fly. Give me your coordinates and I can meet you under water.” They muttered off the sequence as Eclipse relayed them to her earpiece.

“We have the Duel, but lost contact with the Buster and the Aegis. Do you have a visual?”

Hearing the Buster was gone made her curse and the bit about the Aegis didn’t help either. She had just been watching that fight and Athrun had had the upper—

Hand.

Not a human one, thankfully, but definitely one from a mobile suit. It sat roughly one kilometer from her position, looking like a decomposed skeleton as it lay there stripped of its metal and half of it dangling in the water. Scrambling her attention over to the island where the fight had taken place, she cringed when her screen hissed as it moved to get a better picture. Apparently, her adjustments hadn’t done much good. As she moved the cameras, she saw more debris, but too much to be from a single unit. Had both suits gone down? Panicking, she zoomed in on one piece in particular and felt herself go faint.

The Aegis’s head.

There was no mistaking it—Eclipse had seen that mobile suit enough to recognize any deformed part of it—but how she wanted it to be something different. A large hunk of metal lay reclining on the beach, looking to be the torso and legs of a mobile suit. Unlike the head, this part could’ve been from either prototype, making the redhead sweat with the idea. The paint and outer frame was burning from the skeleton, making it a melting prison to anyone trapped inside; _if_ someone was still inside. Moving to a better position, she peered down into the open cockpit.

She couldn’t even scream.

The seat was melted away, the fabric looking like skin residue stretching across the jagged pieces of metal. Or _was_ it skin? The color made her sick—although, the lack of blood helped her keep a positive outlook on the situation—and the smell emitted from the hole made her go pale. There was no confirmation it was the Aegis, but the parts littering the scene proved that suit was involved.

And probably destroyed.

“Stealth, we’re getting reports of movement detected in Orb. They seem to be heading in your direction. Return to the ship.” There was a pause on the other end when she didn’t respond. “Stealth!”

Eclipse just stared at the open cockpit, her panicking mind imagining a wide variety of gruesome images involving Athrun. _This can’t be happening._ Had her rampage and anger led to this? Had she pushed him so hard he’d even risk his life to destroy the Strike?

“Stealth!”

Now, she screamed.

* * *

Yzak was waiting for her in the hangar when the Stealth docked. He had a bandage wrapped around his forehead, but other than that, looked to be okay physically. The same could be said about Eclipse. Other than a headache, there was nothing wrong with her. She could walk, move her arms, and even play a concerto if she knew how to, but there was a dead look in her eyes. The same kind of look that was mirrored in Yzak’s. “What did you see?” he asked.

“The Aegis is destroyed and possibly the Strike,” she replied immediately, stepping down from the lift and holding her helmet under her arm. 

“And Athrun?” The redhead shook her head and Yzak cursed softly. The tone surprised Eclipse at first, but remembering the Buster’s predicament, she just felt miserable. No doubt, he had no more energy to be either angry _or_ sad. There was just too much going on for them to even wrap their minds around let alone attempt to explain. 

“Any news about Dearka?”

Yzak didn’t respond, answering the question with silence and this time allowing the redhead a moment for cursing. Although, hers was a bit more frantic. “Damn it all! Are you fucking kidding me? All of them? All of them gone?” Yelling, she punched her helmet on the hangar floor, collapsing to into a sitting position in front of the Stealth’s left foot as she focused all of her energy on that act alone. “ _What_ had gone wrong? We finally destroy the Strike just to lose everyone? Is this supposed to be some damn victory?”

“To some people it may seem that way,” Yzak muttered, sitting down beside the redhead with a sad sigh. Despite the dangerous pounding of the helmet, he sat close to her, almost as if he was going to comfort his comrade, but just not knowing how to. Then again, perhaps he was the one who needed comforting. Either way, it was a sad sight. Not even the mechanics knew what to do, so they just left them alone. Commander Le Creuset had ordered them back to Carpentaria and they would have plenty of time to work on the mobile suits then. 

The two sat in silence, neither wanting to bring up any kind of painful memory. Eclipse was just… numb. Pounding her helmet into the floor hadn’t made her feel any better, but—she realized—there wasn’t anything there to feel better about. Athrun and Dearka were gone now too. Gone. Their team of five now down to two. She should have just gone to help Dearka and ignored her other half’s sadistic obsession with the Strike.

No, before that, she shouldn’t have let Athrun take over.

No, before that, she should have killed the pilot in Orb.

No, even before that, she should have killed him in Banadiya.

Eclipse heaved a long sigh, vaguely noting Yzak had done similarly. She should have done it all just so much more… differently. Not even her guilt could break her numbness however. Was it all just too much? Or had she, in fact, gotten used to the pain? That had to be it. Back on Januarias 4, she had cried at her first kill; she had been hysterical actually. But after a while, she had gotten used to it. No longer had it churned her stomach and she could even do horrific things without feeling any kind of remorse. Was this the same? Had her mind gotten used to the idea of not only killing people, but of those she cared for getting killed? Could someone evolve like that? 

Was it even fair for that to happen?

“I have a feeling we’re going to be in the way here pretty quick,” Yzak remarked, leaning back against the foot of the Stealth.

“Yeah,” Eclipse replied softly.

“I really don’t want to move though.”

“Me neither,” she admitted, leaning back next to him and watching the various mechanics running around. Even with so many people, they both felt strangely lonely.

* * *

They had yet to make it to Carpentaria. In fact, there was at least another 24 hours until they even came in sight of the base. The mechanics often stared at the two sitting at the Stealth’s feet, debating whether or not to force them to move or just leave them be. It must have been quite the sight though, two high-ranking pilots sitting down in a hangar against a damaged machine, seeming to ignore the various remarks from the soldiers walking by. Yzak had changed out of his pilot’s suit a while ago, but Eclipse was still wearing hers, the broken helmet still lying down at her side.

“Uh, excuse me sir and ma’am, but we need—”

“Perhaps we’ve wasted enough time,” Yzak pilot remarked, not even acknowledging to the young mechanic addressing them.

“I think you have a point,” she sighed. “Besides, there might be some news about Dearka and/or Athrun.” Nodding, they helped each other up and left the hangar, leaving the mechanic standing behind with his arms in the air and shaking his head. Eclipse veered off to the locker room to change and Yzak to the infirmary for fresh bandages.

They met each other a half hour later in the same spot. Both the Stealth and the Duel were being worked on as soon as the two left, the workers moving rather furiously as if expecting the redcoats to come back and keep them from making the repairs. A few groaned as Eclipse approached, debating whether or not to put down the tools in their hands. To their relief, the two pilots just ignored them.

“Ready?” Yzak asked.

“Sure; let’s get some answers, shall we?”

They had just taken a few steps out of the hangar when a message from the Stealth buzzed in the Eclipse’s ear. Involuntarily cringing—perhaps she could change the alert noise to something a little less like an ice pick to the ear drum—she reached up and pressed the button on the devise. “Coffee Addict, report.”

“Repairs commencing smoothly. Personal appearance required post repairs for internal adjustments,” the mechanical voice responded.

“Figured as much. Anything else?”

“One message received.”

“Message?” Eclipse muttered, that one word causing Yzak to pause. 

“Anything on Dearka or Athrun?” he asked.

“Give me a second,” the redhead responded, returning to her conversation with the Stealth. “Coffee Addict, who sent the message?”

“A Revelin. Message sent roughly five seconds ago.”

Eclipse really didn’t care about when it was processed—leave it to a computer to be too literal—but who it was from was definitely interesting. Getting a message from FS made her a bit nervous, but still angry at the same time. He had the nerve to want to talk to her? Did he want to explain? Would she even listen if he did? Either way, something _had_ to be happening. “Roger that. For now, ban access from anyone but me. I’ll read it later.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Anything?” Yzak asked again.

Eclipse shook her head. “A personal message, unfortunately.”

The pilot sighed and started walking once more. “I still can’t believe you talk to your machine,” he muttered. “Maybe if we didn’t only hear your side of the conversation you wouldn’t look like a complete idiot.”

“Where’s the sense of secrecy in that? Besides, as long as _you_ know I’m not an idiot, that works for me.”

“ _Just_ me?”

“Well, I was going to say my team, but that’s down to us two. Only seemed appropriate to specify.”

Yzak sighed again, walking a bit fast than he had a moment ago. “Let’s hope that’s not the case.”

“Agreed.”

* * *

They found out nothing.

Both asked any and every kind of question they could think of, but received only bits and pieces of information since intelligence was still gathering it. ZAFT was attempting to do aerial surveillance of the area, waiting for Orb to leave before diving into a full investigation. Orb, staying true to its neutral state, was offering bits and pieces of information, but basically everything they were confirming, Eclipse had verified before leaving the scene. The Bozman team had been sent out with three DINNs to track down the _Archangel,_ but was forced to turn back when they had come too close to Alaska’s territory. There was no way they were going to try anything reckless in that airspace no matter how damaged their enemy was. 

It was all so damn frustrating.

“I’m heading over to check on the Duel. I can’t stand just sitting around doing nothing,” Yzak said, ducking through another doorway. He tossed a growl and a glare at two, younger soldiers coming through the other way. The walkways were a bit cramped on that side of the ship and one had accidentally bumped into the hotheaded redcoat. Apologies were exchanged, but nothing could change his foul mood.

Eclipse just sighed as they passed by her, debating whether or not to save their hurt feelings, but ended up not caring. She was starting to approve of Yzak’s methods in preserving his mental stability. Just take it out on everyone else. “I’ll join you. They may need my help on the Stealth.”

“Most likely,” Yzak agreed, slowing when they passed another hallway. Some crewmen were laughing as they walked by, one stuffing a roll into his mouth as they all saluted each other. “Hm, I wonder if we should grab some food first,” he added when they disappeared again. “We haven’t eaten in a while and we should really keep—”

“Aw, worried about me?” Eclipse asked, laughing lightly when a small scowl crossed his face. 

“Not worried, just thinking ahead. Jeez, do you always—”

“Calm down. I should be asking you why you always—”

“Oh, just shut up. Food or no food?”

It was quite the interesting conversation and seeing as they were cutting each other off so easily, one might think they were comfortable together. Even if the words sounded rather harsh, they really weren’t angry, just annoyed at the situation. Mutual irritation usually called for some harmless bickering. “No food,” Eclipse responded. “Not really in the mood.”

“Alright then, I’ll meet you in the hangar. For some reason, I’m starved.”

“Matter over mind. Your survival outweighs your nausea, apparently.” Yzak shrugged and turned the corner as Eclipse continued forward. 

The Stealth was standing idle next to the Duel as they had left them, a couple mechanics fiddling around with some equipment at its feet. Taking a quick glance at her suit, she half expected more people to be standing around trying to fix it, but she found that wasn’t the case. Most of the mechanics weren’t even present and there were only two others working on the Duel. Apparently, they were going to save most of the repairs for when they got back to Carpentaria. Agreeing with their decision, she walked over to her machine, hopped onto a lift and rode it to the open cockpit. “Coffee Addict, message unlocked,” she commanded, sitting down in the seat. “Open folder.”

“Affirmative.”

Pulling the keyboard onto her lap, she stared calmly at the screen. Ironically, she didn’t feel the least bit nervous about opening the message. Perhaps, she didn’t expect there to be of any good news, so there was no use to get worked up over nothing. Sighing, she read the address and caught her breath. “Lexi.” She frowned as she stared at the opening of the message. No matter what, her real name made her cringe. Perhaps she would never get used to seeing it again. Taking an extra moment to check on the mechanics below, she looked back at the screen and began reading.

_Lexi,_

_I want to speak to you, alone, one last time. You’re stationed at Carpentaria so I’ll set up a meeting spot near there. There’s a movie theater about a half hour from the base called the Peacemillion Cinemas. Meet me there at sundown on the 18th._

_Revelin_

A cinema near base was rather convenient for her, seeing as that was where they were headed. Only problem was, the ship would be arriving _after_ the scheduled rendezvous and she planned on doing some surveillance work before she and FS talked. There was no reason she was going to go there without knowing the terrain just in case she had to make some kind of getaway. Being in a public place meant there would be an assortment of cars she could easily steal if she needed to get away fast and with so many witnesses hanging around, her old friend may not try to kill her. Well, maybe. She had no idea what to think when it came to FS anymore.

Reading the note again, she glanced around the hangar and nodded when she saw a one-person chopper she could take. She had to get back to base quicker than the ship, drop off the craft at the base and then take a taxi from there. 

Eclipse read the note one last time before having the Stealth pull up Namarra’s contact information. He wanted her alone? Well, only to a certain extent.

* * *

“Y’know, I was rather surprised to get your message,” Namarra said, sitting down on the curb outside of the Peacemillion Cinemas. They were back in the parking lot, staring at the glass doors and looking for FS and the other flunkies that most likely accompanied him. If there was anything they knew about the heads of associations, it was that they never traveled alone. Seeing as FS was extremely capable by himself, his friends were getting rather annoying, but protocol always seemed to come first. Cover the basics: never go alone. Hence the back-up, but the bitching and ego fights were getting out of hand. They had met up an hour prior, scouting the place individually before ending up surrounded by sports cars and pick-up trucks. To put things bluntly, the place was packed and more people were driving up as they watched the sun sink below the horizon.

It was going to be an interesting night.

Eclipse didn’t respond to her partner’s quip, leaning back against the tree about 10 feet from the parking lot. She wore jeans, tennis shoes, and a T-shirt with an oval-shaped hole near her right side and belly button. Most of the people she came across thought it was the designer’s creativity, but really it was just a soldier who hadn’t had the chance to go shopping or do some laundry. As long as it fit, was comfortable in a fight, and could be considered “decent” for movie theater policies she wasn’t about to change. She wore an added layer underneath for defensive reasons and could tell Namarra had done the same, noticing the fabric as she slipped her arms through a long-sleeved shirt and pulled it down over her tank top.

“So, what did you want me to do? Being back-up can usually incorporate more than what one person is able,” Namarra asked after a few more moments.

“You know SIN-ED just as well as I do. Pride isn’t coming alone and being in such a crowded area bothers me.”

“You want me to go into _that_ building,” the Natural pointed at the theater, “and look for SIN-ED operatives?”

“You know the floor plan pretty well now, and they’re going to stick out.”

“You _do_ know two of the biggest movies came out tonight, right? A 3D animation flick and a horror movie. Both will call in the childish, hormonal, and terribly annoying younger generation.”

“And here I thought you were good at babysitting.”

“Where the hell did you get that idea?” Namarra asked, looking back and up at her supposed partner. “That building is two stories high, has 26 separate theaters, four food counters, eight bathrooms for each sex, and—”

“I’m just here to talk to Pride,” Eclipse interrupted. “Keep an eye on the cronies, that’s all I ask.”

“Fine,” the Natural grumbled, rocking to her feet. No, she wasn’t happy with the situation, but she wasn’t about to complain anymore either. After all, now she had something interesting to do for the night and if anything went _seriously_ wrong, there were three people ready to jump in and back _her_ up. It was such a comforting feeling. Stretching, she fixed the collar of her black shirt and wiped off her jeans. “You’ll call me when it’s all over?”

“You’re rather observant and have good instincts. I’m sure you’ll know when I know.”

“So glad to see we can read each other’s minds now.”

“That’s a scary thought.”

“Very.” Cracking her neck, she reached around the tree the redhead was leaning against and pulled out a long, black case. Producing a key, she unlocked the small pad lock and unlatched the front.

Eclipse didn’t even have to see what was inside to know there was—most likely—a shiny, new sniper rifle resting there. “No.”

“But why not?” Namarra whined, only opening it part way. “You called me for back-up.”

“And you don’t think that looks just a _little_ conspicuous?”

“No,” she replied curtly. She even looked serious.

“You promised, no innocents.”

“I’d only hit SIN-ED members.” They had a stare down then, but they really had no more time to argue. The sun wasn’t about to pause and let them fight over some sadistic form of entertainment, and Eclipse was getting restless by the second.

But that wasn’t enough to make her back down.

Finally, the Natural sighed. “Fine, I won’t take it. I just really wanted to try it out.”

“There’ll be other times. Just make sure I’m there because I want a round or two.”

“It’ll cost ya.” Eclipse matched the smirk on Namarra’s lips, and nodded her off, basically saying, “It’s a plan,” without so many words. That was definitely going to be an interesting day off.

Watching the Natural lock up the case and walk towards the building, the redhead sighed. FS wanted to meet her alone, but not even she knew what the hell that meant. Most likely there was some talking involved, but Eclipse was too itchy to just stand there and flap her lips. She was supposed to be unarmed—at least to a certain degree—but that didn’t mean her back-up couldn’t have a little something. Namarra—not including the sniper rifle—had a few tricks of her own. Knowing better than to ask, she just let her have her fun. Hopefully, she would keep her promise, but that wasn’t really her concern at the moment either. Eclipse was pissed. People she knew and trusted were killed. There might be some information on one victim, but there was no guarantee.

Maybe she would get some peace of mind at least.

“I’m rather surprised you came alone. Somehow, I figured you’d be a little more suspicious than that. You’ve grown soft, my dear.”

The sight of FS should have surprised a part of her, or even stirred some kind of emotion, but she felt nothing. Turning her attention to the man standing off to her left, Eclipse pushed off the tree and took a few steps forward. The brunette wore jeans, a T-shirt—with some abstract color sequence on the front—and a zip-up sweatshirt. Leave it to him to be trendy and weird at the same time. “And, as usual, looking so stunning.”

“You have a lot of nerve talking to me like that.”

“Nerve?” FS wondered, batting his eyes innocently. “My, my, in a bad mood are we?”

Eclipse couldn’t remember when he had turned into such an ass. Perhaps the utter infatuation had run off—or she was so pissed everything was annoying—but that smug smile on his lips had to go. This guy had been nothing but trouble since he got his own free will and all the redhead wanted to do was strip it away again. Death was a good way to ruin anyone’s enthusiasm.

“Stop provoking me, what do you want?”

He smiled and leaned back onto one of the random cars at the very end of the parking lot. The little devil in Eclipse’s mind had hoped an alarm would go off as soon as he touched, but looking down to where the tires met the concrete, the redhead noticed they were all flat. The car was dumped there, it seemed. How fitting.

“I guess you could say I came here for a final confirmation. Jaeger’s in outer space right now waiting for me to come back. Will you be accompanying me?”

“You _killed_ Stray,” the redhead spat. “Stop lying to me.” She wanted to jump him; put her hands to his throat and demand information, but she wasn’t about to be that foolish. FS was different and, to be honest, she was rather weary of him. His entire demeanor had changed. He seemed to be dripping with ego, his hair slicked back differently, and even the way he comfortably leaned against the car proved he wasn’t afraid of her in the least. Before, she may have tackled him out of friendship, but now she would never lay a finger on him unless it was to kill him. Unfortunately, as of right then, that wasn’t an option.

“Wow, you _have_ gone soft,” FS remarked, a chuckle rising in his throat. “I hoped you’d at least be curious about the news, but I don’t think you’d actually fall for it.”

Eclipse hesitated, but tried to hide it. It was his words against Namarra’s and she trusted Namarra’s more, no matter how surprising of a revelation that was. Yes, maybe she was too quick to believe the words, but perhaps, in the back of her mind, she had also anticipated something like that, so there was less shock, and far more grief. Stray had done some risky things—at least from what she could tell—and FS had changed so drastically. Knowing that, her friends trying to kill each other didn’t seem like an impossible notion. But FS was right, she had let her emotions get too involved.

“What, nothing to say?”

“Why did you call me out here, FS? Surely it wasn’t merely to mock me.”

“You’re right, I came to enlighten you.” Smiling, he shifted his weight on the car, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her face. She was curious; good. “We have our fingers in a couple of things at the moment. One of them is stealing some very interesting intel from ZAFT and we have the information currently in our possession. Jaeger and Wrath make efficient couple, I cannot lie.” He paused, gauging her reaction and silently laughing when he saw the eager curiosity in her eyes. It was sad how predictable she had become. “It involves the N-Jammers. Or, perhaps more appropriately, it’s the cancellation of.”

“ _What_?”

“We’ve got a couple of people interested—well, _very_ interested—and are just waiting for our moment to sit back and watch the fireworks.” He smiled and the grin was so genuine Eclipse felt a shiver crawl up her spine. “The armies will blast each other to oblivion as we sit back and watch, ready to make our peaceful world afterwards. After all, ZAFT has already begun making its move; SIN-ED is in space now helping them finalize their weapon. No doubt the EA is far behind they’re just missing a certain… piece to their puzzle.” He turned his head to the side, his grin widening as his shoulders glided upward into a shrug. “Such an ambitious species humanity has become, don’t you think? I wonder if any of that ambition will remain after they destroy each other.”

* * *

Namarra really wanted her sniper rifle. Staring at a crowded lobby of over-hormonal teenagers—laughing at the random jokes involving hands and fingers in various positions—screaming toddlers, and frustrated parents, she wanted nothing more than to stand on the balcony and pick off the various annoyances. However, the only weaponry she had was the one handgun tucked into her waistband—a small caliber gun tiny enough to be concealed in her palm if need be—and two daggers at her belt, hidden at her hips inside her jeans. The sheaths scraped against her legs as she walked, but the pain was better than the panic of having someone see them.

“Hey, honey,” one of those hormonal boys teased in Namarra’s direction, confident because three of his friends were standing behind him snickering. The Natural was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been so bold if there were a couple less sperm banks back there, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

After all, stupidity was contagious.

They all wore T-shirts with some form of sports team on it and jeans, both looking like avid fan boys and a group of kids who suspiciously dressed alike all the time. In some ways it was unnerving, especially when they all shifted their weight at the same moment to end up in the same pose: arms crossed at the chest and leaning to the right side. Well, at least they had different colored hair. Two blondes, a light brunette and—the one so brave to speak—a dark brunette.

“Hey yourself,” she said and walked towards them. “I have the feeling you guys are bored because there’s no way you’re all feminine enough to watch a chick flick by yourselves.” When in doubt, stroke the ego. She was bored too and just standing and staring was making her look suspicious. Chatting with the locals helped her blend in a little bit better.

“Bored? Heh, something like.” The boy was hesitant before replying, not even expecting Namarra to pay any attention to them. Usually, if they were smart, girls didn’t respond to such verbal harassment. But what they didn’t know, that particular Natural was not the typical damsel. Hell, just look at her killing count the day before.

“Well, how about we stop being bored?”

That question even froze the three cronies behind the speaker. Namarra smirked, gave a light chuckle and a short wave, telling them she was just kidding. To their luck, she decided not to do anything too reckless when an interesting pair of girls walked through the front doors. The Natural had rather terrifying ways of quenching her thirst for excitement. “Actually, I found something else fun to do.” Another wave and she turned, walking towards the female twins. The boys remained silent behind her, as if trying to figure out what had just happened. They had only been talking to her for a minute or so and she had gone from sounding interested to brushing them off. 

Must have been one hell of a mood swing.

Seeing the girls at first glance, Namarra wouldn’t even have called them sisters, but she knew them well. Or at least knew their photos rather well. “Lust,” she greeted when they met near one of the concession stands.

“Berserker bitch,” the pale one, Phoebe, said with a smile. For some reason, the Natural didn’t take offense.

At least for the moment.

Phoebe wore a jean skirt and flip-flops with a white, sleeveless halter top. The collar laced around her neck, making the front of the shirt look like a lampshade more than a piece of clothing, but it fit surprisingly well on her pale form. Her skirt was a bit short for Namarra’s tastes, but if the girl wanted to show off, she wasn’t going to stop her. There were four boys looking for company in the opposite corner of the room.

Melanie wore the same top, just red, with black leggings that stopped mid-thigh. She was smart enough to have on some sort of “active” footwear, but they still looked too much like sandals to be of any real use. There was a pink, veil-like fabric tied around her waist. It hung lopsided on her body, one end brushing her ankles while the other stopped mid-thigh. The fabric was thick enough to look like a skirt and not make the leggings look so scandalous, but it looked more annoying than fashionable. Then again, Namarra was usually a pants kind of girl.

“Aren’t you two looking fabulous?” Namarra mocked, bringing her hands up to rest on her hips. While neither Lust girl looked like she was going to pull out an automatic and start shooting, Namarra wasn’t going to give them a chance. Sometimes the comforting feeling of a knife hilt is all one needs in stressful situations.

“Aren’t you not,” Phoebe commented. The Natural just shrugged.

“Shall we take this somewhere else?” Melanie asked.

“Sure. And I see you’re not dumb enough to bring backup. How nice.”

The girls shrugged and started leading her away, but Namarra took a quick step around to stand in front of them. “No, I lead.”

“Fair enough,” Melanie replied, holding up her hands.

Those same, four boys called out to the three of them when they started walking, hoping to catch their attention before they left the lobby altogether. Melanie winked—causing some smiles—Phoebe blew a kiss—some whistling—and Namarra flipped them off. 

They shut up that time.

* * *

“Sit back and watch, huh?” Eclipse wondered aloud. “You’re just going to sit in the stands as humanity destroys itself?”

FS thought about the question carefully, rubbing his chin with a propped hand. “Actually, we’re more like the second string. Once the starters are dead, we take their positions.”

He was pulling at his bottom lip as if he was bored and Eclipse’s surprise before was quickly being replaced by annoyance. She didn’t expect him to be scared of her, but didn’t he feel as nervous around her as she felt around him? And all of this insane talk was making her sick. Were they, honestly, at one point friends?

Did she used to think like that too?

Sighing, the redhead looked away. _They have the N-Jammer cancellation technology and are helping finalize a weapon. Or, was it all just a bluff?_ It sounded plausible yet ridiculous to her at the same time. The skillset in their ragtag group must have been vast to pull off getting the intel because, most likely, ZAFT would have only recently figured out how to cancel their own frequency. The N-Jammers had been inserted into the planet in desperation, causing the energy crisis on Earth, and only now, it seemed, they had gotten around to completing the research to counter it. Out of all the things they could do, why did it have to be that? Did their madness have to go in the scientific direction as well? Couldn’t they have just stuck with the mercenary route?

“What are you thinking about?” FS asked, pulling her attention back to him for a second. His voice was kind at that moment, sounding like he genuinely wanted to know.

 _I guess it’s not impossible for him to still care,_ she thought briefly, but remained silent nonetheless. They didn’t have that type of relationship anymore. He didn’t deserve to hear what she thought. 

FS didn’t ask again when she didn’t reply, shrugging off being ignored. Staring at her, he guessed what was going through her brain anyway, starting with his own position. She didn’t trust him anymore. Suddenly, he felt sad, having to bite his bottom lip when he almost gave into the grief and blurted something foolish. He had anticipated their “break up,” as it were, but never expected to care about it. Harsh? Probably. Realistic? Yes, but still, surprisingly, painful. Why couldn’t she have just come with them in the first place? “Last chance.”

“For what?” Finally, she spoke.

“To come back with me.”

Eclipse sighed, shaking her head. “No.”

“Is it too much for me to ask why?”

“Because you enjoy this too much and—”

“Enjoy what, exactly?”

Eclipse hesitated, debating whether or not to be blunt. Then again, he probably already guessed at his insanity and was proud of it. She sighed. “You like your bloodlust too much.”

“You used to, too, y’know. Why the change?”

Why the change, indeed? At that moment, she didn’t know either, but for what ever reason, she was exhausted. “So, you’re working on a weapon—thing,” she stuttered.

FS smiled then, exposing his teeth in a grin she had come to hate. Maybe that was why she was so tired. She had been trying too hard to find the old FS that she never saw his smile for what it really was.

That damn grin said it all.

* * *

In actuality, they never talked. Namarra led them to one of the second-floor theaters, slipping through the door just as the people were leaving and one of the workers was finishing up his cleaning rounds. He may have begun saying something intelligent, but they all glared at him, making him hurry and shrink out of the room as soon as he threw the last empty bottle into the trash bin. 

Namarra had been debating what to talk to them about when Phoebe drew out two pocketknives and started charging the Natural. The attacks were easily evaded, but when Namarra attempted to counterattack with her small caliber pistol, Melanie was right there to cut it out of her hand. 

Literally. 

The blood had been flowing freely enough to reach back and wipe the excess across Melanie’s eyes, blinding her, but sending her into a frenzied attack at the same time. Namarra had avoided the flailing arms, fended off Phoebe, tripped the pale twin into a row of seats, and then ran out of the theater to seek a safer hiding spot to regain her bearings. 

One of the 16 bathrooms seemed like just the place.

“Fuck,” Namarra cursed, flipping the lock on the stall door like it would make a difference. She headed towards one of the bathrooms near the back of the theater on the second floor, hoping to not get any innocents involved. She probably should have left the place altogether, but going through an emergency exit would sound an alarm and get police on the scene. That would just make things worse for both parties and her goal was to keep them busy. So, she was stuck in the bathroom trying to bandage her right hand with toilet paper, glad the place had enough hard surfaces to serve as a weapon themselves. It might end up being a trap but there were six stalls to hide behind if need be, three sinks, two pocketknives, and one Natural with the Berserker just under the surface. 

What could go wrong?

 _Hadn’t those two ever heard of playing fair?_ Namarra thought, throwing another bandage into the toilet before grabbing more paper. _Two against one? Where had they learned their math? And where the hell is Eclipse?_ Cursing again, the Natural spun around to sit on the toilet, putting pressure on the wound. Luckily, her subconscious led her to the right room. Accidentally walking through the door to a bathroom full of males may have been a problem and besides, they had less cover. But women weren’t the only ones to come to the bathroom. Screaming kids with little bladder control normally accompanied those women.

Like the two walking in now.

Namarra’s inner sensors blared. All of that noise had deafened her to the new people walking in. If Lust knew where she was, she was going to be trapped in a lot of shit. Maybe even literally. When another screaming kid came in, the Natural opened the stall.

Bad choice.

The barrel of a 9mm handgun was aimed at her about chest high, Phoebe—the handler—smiling and waving at her from the other end. “Shit _—_ ” Namarra started and slammed the door just as the girl fired. The bullet ingrained itself through the metal, grazing the Natural’s side and giving her something to curse about. The door swung back open quickly and just as a new gap formed, the gun fired again. That bullet split the tiles above and behind the toilet. Finally—after another careless shot—the pedestrians in the room seemed to pick up on what was happening. What was the common response? More screaming. Maybe Namarra should have picked the men’s bathroom after all.

Less panic.

With a handgun awaiting her escape through the stall—and going up was too risky—the Natural crouched down just as the door started swinging closed again. Bracing herself on the tiled floor, she stuck a leg out and hooked the top of her foot around Phoebe’s ankle, pulling her to the ground. Hearing the crash on the other side, Namarra got up and hurried out of the stall.

The Sin had caught herself awkwardly on the sink behind her, her right hand cramped over the pistol in the sink with her elbow against the faucet. Her right leg was bent with her left splayed out wide, her back leaning against the wall. The right hand still held the gun, but she seemed a bit dazed—probably from her head hitting the mirror and the crack that had extended up the length of the glass. After being the one to start coming in shooting, Namarra figured she would have anticipated such a trip. Perhaps she was just cocky.

The Berserker wasn’t about to let the opportunity go, stepping forward and reaching for the gun. Phoebe, however, had recovered faster than she thought. Namarra wasn’t able to get a good grip on the gun that time, Lust having built up momentum to swing her left leg across her body. It caught Namarra at the knees, but didn’t have enough power to do any damage. The Berserker pushed Phoebe’s right arm near the faucet into the wall to catch herself, grabbing the gun after the slam forced her grip loose, and stepping out of reach. The Sin spun in the same direction and stopped to face Namarra.

The advantage had switched, it seemed.

The same lady and the two kids were—for some ungodly reason—still in the room. They were crouched down under the paper towel dispenser, her hugging the two youngsters to her breast as they watched the fiasco. “Why the hell are you still here?” the Berserker shouted at them, feeling the furthest wall of the bathroom brush against her back. At least she had the gun pointed at Phoebe because being trapped in a corner was not a comforting scenario. The woman didn’t answer—not like Namarra expected her to—and that made the Berserker even angrier. No, she didn’t want some damn security guards walking in, but she didn’t want those pedestrians to get killed either. And with all the racket they were making, someone was bound to bust in sooner or later.

“Aw, just shoot ‘em,” Lust suggested, reaching behind her head to check the bloody gash the mirror made. Cocky bitch. “They’ll get us both caught and I don’t think either of us can afford a trip to the police station.”

“We’re in the back of the theater surrounded by horror flicks. I doubt screaming and shooting is unnatural.” Phoebe just shrugged and checked her head again. Namarra may have switched over by that time, but her promise to Eclipse was still resonating in her head. It may have seemed like a stupid reason to jeopardize the situation so, but it was an interesting restriction that gave the whole fight an element of fun. No, the Berserker would let them live for now.

Or not.

The restroom door opened once more, introducing another female into the chaotic mess. The two fighting adversaries feared it was a security guard at first, having heard the racket and was sent to investigate, but as soon as her face lightened in a smile, Namarra cursed and Phoebe cheered. “Hiya, sis!”

Melanie didn’t respond. Slipping a hand into her front pocket, she drew out a pen, clicked the end, took a step into the room, reached around the wall, and jabbed the utensil into the stunned woman’s eye socket. Now that was good aim. “You guys were having fun without me?”

“Sorry, got a little excited,” Phoebe said, seeming to ignore Namarra and the gun behind her. Not that it would have mattered anyway. The Berserker was the one momentarily stunned now, watching the woman’s head bow down in death and seeing the children’s eyes gaze up in utter horror. One even reached up to try and pull the pen out, thinking he could save her. The drop of blood on his cheek stopped that movement.

“Damn you,” Namarra hissed.

“Well, now, there’s a unique phrase,” Melanie mocked, absently rubbing off more of the dried blood from her cheek. “Now she won’t make any noise and half the clean-up. You should be thanking me.”

“Well, thank you for not making me break a promise,” the Berserker said, flipping her eyes from side to side. Damn, she had gotten into quite the predicament. There she was in the back corner of the room, _maybe_ the only one with a weapon, with two psychopaths between her and the exit. _Shit._ Her only option would be to shoot Melanie—probably not be able to kill her given Lust’s skill—fend off Phoebe’s attack, and hopefully get out alive.

Or just rely on some little kid’s heroics.

Namarra could never tell the ages of children—let alone their gender—when they were buried against some woman, but now she had a clear view and the five-year-old boy was going to get a surprise Christmas gift from the Berserker that year. It could have been some random spur of adrenaline, or even the “knight in shining armor” image was rubbing off, but, either way, he got to his feet and ran screaming at Melanie. She said a few choice words and tried to kick him to the side, but either he was an annoying little pest or the Lust girl decided to have a bit of fun. Still too cocky for her own good.

Phoebe leapt at Namarra during the heroics, aiming for the gun. The Berserker let her grab the weapon, swinging her left elbow around to hit the Sin across the cheek. Phoebe stumbled into the open stall at the end, falling on top of the toilet in a crumpled heap. Her forehead hit the plumbing hard and the gun slid into the next stall, the end sticking out into the open. Hopefully, she would be down for a while and not a threat.

The kid was surprisingly resilient, but he was definitely losing to Melanie’s strength. The Lust girl must have decided to have a bit of fun because when Namarra turned around, she was tossing his body roughly against the stall. The Berserker had had enough. She just wanted to get the hell out of the movie theater. Their little game had gotten disturbingly annoying and since there wasn’t much more she could do without getting more innocents killed, heading outdoors for round two was the best option.

Rushing forward, Namarra grabbed the gun, dodged Melanie’s frantic punch, and brought the barrel up to her right shoulder, firing a bullet into her skin. The Sin screamed before crumpling to the floor in agony, but seeing the look in her eye, Lust was not out just yet. Taking a moment to acknowledge the boy, Namarra said a silent thank you before rushing out the door.

The entrance hall was crowded with more people than the Berserker was comfortable with and all of them eyeing her suspiciously. Perhaps it was the gash on her hand—now bleeding onto the carpet—or the gun in her hand, but she wasn’t entirely sure. Maybe the people were just being rude.

Melanie, she figured, was going to be down for a bit, but the exact amount of time Namarra couldn’t be sure. Those Sins were rather resilient and as reckless as the Berserker was, she had to find Eclipse and get away. They were greatly outmatched if Pride was still alive and—frankly—she wasn’t in the best shape to face them all. Given, she wasn’t that injured, but she didn’t have the right weaponry either. 

Fists and knives vs. guns was never a contest.

It involved too much fun on one side and a lot of screaming on the other.

Nearly tripping over a wandering kid in the lobby, Namarra slammed into the glass double doors and stumbled outside. The brisk air hit her face and cooled her skin, making her—for the first time—realize she had been sweating. The SIN-ED people were tough, sure, but she had never been this worried she would come out alive. Two on one could make anyone nervous. _Now, Eclipse, where the hell are you?_ She thought of the possibilities and laughed when she figured out her exact location. Still at the far end of the parking lot stood her redheaded partner and Pride, talking and getting into quite the heated conversation based on Eclipse’s body language. Flailing hands never looked good in any sort of exchange.

Turning to her left, Namarra caught sight of a line of motorcycles, making her inner child both squeal and laugh with excitement. Yes, it was the perfect getaway machine as well as the most fun to choose. Offering up a silent “thank you” for the good weather, she ran towards them. 

* * *

“You’re insane”

“So glad you noticed,” FS replied, smiling brightly as he uncrossed his arms to prop them on the car. Looking at his watch, he was surprised at the time. He had hoped Lust would have come back by then, having killed the other little cockroach and whisked him away as if the whole thing had never happened. He had told Eclipse what he had planned to, and that was all. IF she didn’t want to come with him, then there was no need to involve her in anything more if he was just going to kill her later on. She was of no use.

“What, got bored with being the Earth Force’s special ops? Wanted to kill more than 20 at a time?”

“What do you mean? The war will end soon and afterwards we’ll happily take on the role of grave digging. I don’t see why you’re so upset.”

Eclipse merely glared after the statement, but she couldn’t help finding it curious as well. FS seemed to be making quite the profit out of the whole thing and even if his motives were revenge, she knew he couldn’t avoid the large amount of money he was making by sending out his troops to work for each army. Did he really not care about that? Did he really just want each side destroyed, all of the soldiers annihilated and then build his “peaceful world” on the grief left over?

She debated going into it further, but stopped. She wouldn’t get anywhere. FS had definitely changed since they had left the facility, but she hated the direction. Then again, had she been the one to change? If she had left with them, would she have been the one to steal the intel and be helping to build this weapon?

“You look so cute when you think.”

“Shut up.”

“No, really. It’s a new look for you. I don’t think I’m quite used to it yet, but I can’t say I don’t like it.”

“You haven’t seen me in a long time, FS. You have no right to judge me.”

“Judge you on what? Forehead wrinkles?” He smiled after that, throwing his hands up in front of his body as if anticipating some kind of retaliation. Eclipse, however, held off. Maybe before she would’ve given him the pleasure of seeing her so befuddled, but now, she debated pulling out her pocketknife. She tried planning a counterattack, going as far as to look on the ground for something as miniscule as a stone to force him off guard. It was amazing how quickly her infatuation with FS had turned to utter hatred. Perhaps those two emotions weren’t as far off as she originally believed.

There was a pen lying broken on the ground about three feet from her position. She stared at it for a good twenty seconds, coming up with something creative, but—thanks to some shouting and a trigger-happy Lust member—Eclipse’s attention was pulled elsewhere. Namarra had hijacked a motorcycle and was speeding in her direction, avoiding the random pedestrians and trying to swerve away from Melanie’s insistent shooting. The evasive maneuvering was quite impressive, but the bullets were still ricocheting off the cars and her stolen bike to land mercilessly into the moviegoers. One child got hit in the arm and another gentleman got a graze across his forehead.

Cursing, Eclipse turned towards FS as if waiting for him to explain. He just smiled. “Bastard.”

“Thank you.”

Namarra was gradually getting closer. She had kept the speed slow because of all the people, but as she neared the end of the parking lot, the customers had figured out how to remain safe in their cars. Melanie continued her shooting, but soon stopped and focused on running instead. “What would your brother think? What would _Kai_ think, Namarra!” she shouted, making no sense to Eclipse. She kept shouting, however, repeating the name “Kai” over and over as if the word itself had become her ammo.

The Berserker veered off to the redhead’s left, holding out her hand to catch her and swing her up onto the back of the seat. It sounded foolhardy in Eclipse’s mind, but she looked across at FS, glared, and then held out her hand to catch her new comrade’s.

How times had changed.

“What about _Kai_?” Melanie shouted behind them, falling behind once Namarra revved the machine faster. FS didn’t even try to stop them, blowing at kiss to the redhead when she was flipped up onto the back of the motorcycle. That was rewarded with the middle finger and the Sin just laughed.

They hadn’t gotten too far from the theater when Eclipse felt the motorcycle wobble. It wouldn’t have been a concern if the battle before hadn’t taken place. When the redhead had grabbed her comrade’s hand, she noticed panic on her face as one eye was normal and the other was still berserk. She must have been between transitions, but Eclipse rarely felt any pain when she was snapped, so it had to be something else. Why was she so rattled? “Namarra—hey—you all right?”

No response.

“Namarra—”

“I’m fine,” she spat, swerving sharply into the other lane to go down a side road and out of town. And out of town was no understatement. Apparently, they hadn’t been in a big city and judging by the scenery, they had officially ridden into the countryside. Either the Natural was speeding _that_ badly or Eclipse had miscalculated their position. However, the road was still busy enough to make anyone nervous, especially when the bike swerved dangerously close to oncoming traffic. Something wasn’t right.

“Namarra—”

“I said shut up, damn it!”

Eclipse was going to leave it at that, but she had her own life to think about right then. Her fellow Berserker wasn’t about to jeopardize her future as much as she already had. “Damn your pride. Pull over and let me drive.”

Namarra didn’t respond. The redhead growled and started reaching over her shoulders to grab the handles anyway, but the bike swerved again, nearly causing them both to fall off. There were a series of snake curves up ahead, so Eclipse reluctantly decided to wait a bit longer. Since there was a guardrail, she felt reasonably safe. 

Namarra was turning around the last curve when Eclipse dared to strike up a conversation again. “What was that Lust girl shouting at you before? Who the hell is Ka—”

“Don’t say his name!”

The reply startled the redhead, but not as much as when the Natural lost total control of the bike, sending them both skidding to the ground. Helmets probably would have been a good thing in that kind of situation, but when a person was trying to escape sudden death, she didn’t usually think that far into the future. So, they both hit the ground pretty hard, but because the bike skidded downward and to the side instead of going end over end, they were saved from too critical of injuries. Both girls had large scrapes in their pants, but their added layer had stopped most of the damage. The skid burns still bled pretty well, but they weren’t as bad as they could have been. Just as the bike fell, they both ducked into side rolls, going with the impact and avoiding as much damage to their body as possible. 

Eclipse groaned as her body stopped, shifting onto her back and discerning her health based on what hurt the most. To her luck, everything hurt and her head spinning wasn’t allowing her a concrete enough report. Well, she was alive.

Namarra didn’t even seem fazed by the impact. In fact, she started rolling around on the grass hysterically after everything had stopped. Eclipse propped herself up in order to see if there was anything seriously wrong with the Natural, but she couldn’t see anything other than the skid marks on her arms and legs. No doubt her head was spinning as much as the redhead’s, so why did she feel the need to throw such a fit? “N-Namarra—hey!”

The Natural was trying to get to her feet, falling each time, but slowly making her way towards the street. Eclipse’s sense of loyalty kicked in then, forcing her to her feet and run in Namarra’s general direction. “Narmar—damn, calm down! I said stop! Ugh!” Eclipse had her arms looped under her armpits, but the legs were getting to be a huge problem. It was getting harder and harder for them to stand upright, but she couldn’t exactly let the Natural run into the street.

Namarra’s head thrashed backwards, hitting Eclipse square on the right cheekbone. “Kai, Kai! Damn it, don’t go! I said don’t say his name!” She was making no sense; it was as simple as that. But _why_ was she so disoriented? What had happened inside that movie theater than screwed her up so much? Did it even happen in the movie theater? Would she even answer a question if she asked? “Kai, save me, please!”

A cell phone fell out of her pocket, causing the redhead to look down momentarily. She needed some help, that was obvious, but would calling Yzak over to pick them up make matters any easier? No doubt Namarra would be forced to go with them and as a member of the Earth Forces—well—it wouldn’t turn out so good. But what choice did she have? She _might_ be able to calm her down by the time he arrived, and if that happened, she could hide. But if she didn’t calm down… _Ah, screw it,_ Eclipse thought and grabbed the phone, shifting her hold to one arm locked around her comrade’s waist and winced when Namarra started scratching her nails against her skin. She’d bandage them later. The first thing she did was send a message to herself with her approximate area. The information should now be in the Stealth and all someone had to do was look at it. At least, she hoped that’s what he would figure out. “Yzak,” she spat breathlessly when his voice sounded on the other end.

“Eclipse?”

“I need you to pick me up. I sent the info to the Stealth—ow, damn it. I need you to meet me here as soon as—” Namarra knocked the phone from her grip then, her elbows jabbing back into the redhead’s sides as she tried to break loose. It was just getting ridiculous. “Namarra, I said—” No use; she didn’t seem to hear her anymore. In fact, it didn’t even seem as if she was in the same reality. Her arms flailed as if trying to grasp something, or perhaps someone. Whoever that Kai was, was close to her. Eclipse could have realized that without hearing his name shouted every other second, but whoever he was, had to have messed her up pretty good. Or something like that. She could only hope the CA system was intuitive enough to realize she needed Yzak to be able to get into the cockpit to see the message. It was a risky move, but she _had_ to get Namarra to calm down. 

Somehow. 

“Alright, alright, I won’t say his name. I’m sorry, okay? Hey—I said I was sorry!”

“Kai, don’t let them take me!” Her head thrashed back again and hit the same spot on her cheekbone as before, causing a few curses to leave the redhead’s mouth. Leave it to a teammate to get her more beat up in the aftermath than in the actual fight. That hit loosened Eclipse’s grip, sending the Natural stumbling forward after the lack of restraint. 

And directly towards the road.

Shaking off the pain, Eclipse took a few steps and lunged forward. She caught her a few feet from the concrete, tackling her to the ground. They both hit hard, Namarra’s chin striking the gravel with a force that might have knocked anyone out; however, she didn’t even look affected. That was suspicious. “Stop! Stop! Let me go!”

“I can’t just let you run into the street. What the hell is wrong with you?” A car passed extremely close by, the horn blaring as it swerved. The smell of the burning rubber as the car slammed on its breaks made Eclipse nauseous, but Namarra’s fit hadn’t subsided. It was getting extremely annoying and even scarier given her unusually calm demeanor prior to the escapade. It was a huge switch and not a comforting one. Was this a side of the Berserker she hadn’t experienced yet? 

The Natural’s hands flailed in a frantic offense, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Eclipse sat on Namarra’s stomach and grabbed at her hands, snatching one, but failed at getting the other. Sharp fingernails raked across her face as teeth sunk down on her exposed hand. “Ow—damn it!” The feet started going next, knees jamming into the redhead’s back. There were just too many things to keep track of.

Namarra twisted beneath her, throwing Eclipse off balance and tumbling off to the side. _Now what?_ Eclipse thought, but when she rolled over to look for her comrade, she had already stepped out onto the concrete. “Namarra!”

Another car slammed on its brakes when she hit the middle line, swerving to the side and barely missing her. Some curses sounded from the seats, but it sped off without stopping. “Damn it—Namarra!” Two more cars sped by before she made it to the other side of the road, one coming so close to hitting her the two people actually stopped and attempted to help. Eclipse ran over to them, gave a brief explanation and hurried them back into the car. Luckily, they went without a fuss.

That was when another car stopped.

“Dear God—Nam, what the—” A redhead jumped out first, brushing past Eclipse to grab the Natural around the waist and drag her back towards the side of the road and the car. The struggling threw him off balance, sending him down on his butt with her in his lap. Cursing, his head banged against the car bumper when she flailed some more. “Damn it!” 

Eclipse started panicking when she saw the redhead pulling them both to the car. She had no idea who these people were and they were just going to grab her comrade and run off? “No! Stop!”

“Clotho, keep her still,” a deeper voice ordered and Eclipse froze when she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. Spinning around, she instinctively brought her right arm up to punch his face. The attack was blocked and before she could grasp the knife near her waist, the man had grabbed her other wrist. Struggling a bit at first, she stopped when the lights from the car shown on his face. This was the green-blond boy, Orga—presumably the leader of the group—who had picked up Namarra last time. “Stop this; we aren’t enemies.” Seeing the calm look on his face and the worried expression in his eyes as they flicked over towards his screaming teammate, Eclipse nodded. Returning the acknowledgement, he let her go.

Namarra’s fit hadn’t subsided, but Clotho had her under control. He hugged her elbows to her sides, his arms folded over her stomach in a tight hold as his legs crossed over hers in his own version of a strangle hold that looked strangely loving. The look on Clotho’s face said enough. He was worried. Her head was the only thing he had to be concerned with, but other than that, she wasn’t going anywhere.

Orga walked back to his comrades without saying anything more to Eclipse. Kneeling down, he reached forward and put both palms on the sides of her face. Eclipse couldn’t see the look in Namarra’s eyes, but her breath did calm down for a brief moment, the two staring at each other. “Nam—Namarra, stop. It’s all right, you’re safe with us.” His eyes were searching hers, but despite the soothing, her breath had sped up again when the name “Kai” stammered through her lips again.

“I-I want to see Kai,” she managed, her struggling beginning anew as Orga’s hands slipped from her cheeks. There was a pain there, Eclipse could see, a pain etched on his face that suddenly made the redhead feel uneasy. She suddenly felt like she was intruding—witnessing something that was meant for their eyes only. That pain wasn’t only meant for Namarra and her condition, it was part of a memory, Eclipse felt. A shared event.

“Nam, don’t—” Clotho started when her head rocked back again, hitting him hard in the chin.

“Let me see him—I want to see him!”

“Namarra, listen to me—" Orga tried again, but she just started her screaming once more, lashing out at him with teeth instead of the limbs she so wanted to use. Orga cursed and for a moment Eclipse saw him get angry, or was it frustration? “What _happened_?” he hissed, looking over at Eclispe that time, his attention fully directed at her.

Nope, it was definitely anger.

He stood and stomped the short distance towards her, grabbing her collar before Eclipse could even think to put of a defense. She hadn’t expected that response from him and in that moment, feeling his grip against her collar and how easily he lifted her from the cement, she felt stupid.

Oh, so stupid.

“I-I don’t—”

“She’s _never_ been this bad before. _What_ did you do?”

“I-I didn’t do anything.” His face was close and despite the fury she had been observing from his actions, there was a level of fear in his eyes that actually made Eclipse calm down. Orga didn’t want to hurt anyone, well, at least he didn’t want to hurt her and that was as big of a win as she was going to get. He just wanted Namarra to calm down.

They were just all… worried.

“I was trying to calm her down, remember?” she responded slowly and his grip faltered.

It wasn’t until that moment that Eclipse had remembered there were three in the car. Shani had been in the backseat and either he hadn’t thought he would be needed or he just didn’t hear the struggling. Pulling down the headphones from his head, he slipped them from around his neck and kneeled down in front of Namarra.

“Sis, you’re with us now. You’re safe.” Putting the headphones in both palms, he slipped them over the top of her head and over her ears, his hands holding them in place as they made eye contact. Her eyes stared into his, blinking rapidly as more tears tickled her cheeks. She still looked panicked, pupils wide and frightened like a four-year-old separated from her family, but her thrashing was beginning to slow. “You’re with us now; everything’s going to be fine,” Shani continued and her eyes softened at his words, body loosening in Clotho’s arms. She sniffed a couple more times, eyes turning away from him in either grief or humility. Given the scene before, Eclipse was betting on the grief, but Shani kept his hands cradling her face, whispering, “You’re safe,” a couple more times. Her shaking had stopped by that time, Clotho untangling his legs from hers. 

While her body language showed she was calming down, her eyes shared a different story. Shani, apparently, didn’t miss that, leaning in and resting his forehead against hers. “You’re safe with me,” he whispered. Clotho, seeing the phrase as some sort of sign, let go of her completely and sighed lightly when she lunged at Shani and wrapped her arms around his neck. Finally, she just cried and Eclipse could feel everyone release the breath they were holding.

Orga’s grip loosened completely and the redhead felt her feet touch back down on the concrete. He muttered an apology, but didn’t pay attention to her for long. “Clotho, sit with her in the backseat,” he ordered, watching Shani pick her up and Clotho following behind towards the car. “Shani, get in too, we’re leaving.” 

“And what about me?” Eclipse asked, feeling the words fall from her tongue before she could pull them back in. Neither party should just be letting the other go, but given what she had just witnessed, Eclipse wasn’t about to try and bring them all in to ZAFT and she was hoping they were of a similar mindset.

Orga turned back to her and looked down, the weight of his stare solemn and—

 _Tired?_ Eclipse thought, startled by his expression.

“I told you, we’re not enemies,” he said, either uninterested in her reaction or not seeing it. “There’s no reason to take you with us.”

“Thank you, I’m grateful, but what _was_ that?” she asked, referring to Namarra’s outburst. “Even in Berserker—”

“She wasn’t berserk, that was something else.”

“What then?”

Orga sighed and scratched his head. Taking a moment, he looked her over, as if debating whether or not to share any information. Given the circumstances, Eclipse would have expected him to make up some excuse and leave, but instead he gave a sad sigh, muttered something about someone being mad at him and continued. “I’m not totally sure how it all works, but it has something to do with her brother’s name, Kai. We may be on the same team, but she’s been in a different medical program, of sorts.”

“So—wait—Shani—your teammate—is her brother?”

“No,” was the simple reply and his face darkened. Eclipse tensed, feeling the same way she had before—as if she had been intruding on some bad memory. “Her brother’s been dead for years. When she’s like this, keeping up the illusion that he’s alive is the only way to calm her down. Shani,” he nodded his head back to the car and the older teammate twisted in the passenger seat to look at Namarra and Clotho in the backseat. “He’s the only one able to slip into the role.”

Eclipse thought about that for a second, gazing over at the three in the convertible. Orga had said they were in different medical programs. _That_ was an interesting piece of information and the fact that she had a brother was also intriguing, but the reaction the mere mention of his name had caused made Eclipse tense. “So, this happens often?”

“We avoid his name because of this.” He brought up his arms, crossing them over his chest and Eclipse frowned, realizing the interrogation was about to switch. “So, if you didn’t say it, who did?”

“To be fair, I may’ve made it worse,” she admitted, “but I didn’t start it. Blame SIN-ED for that one.”

“SIN-ED?” 

The redhead inwardly cursed, realizing she probably shouldn’t have said that only after her mouth decided to vomit the words. Of all the times to be careless. It _was_ a surprise they didn’t know what she was getting into, but then again, Eclipse’s team—besides her active commander—didn’t know anything either. Opening her lips, she attempted to take back her words, but Orga gave another sad smile and held up a hand. “I’ll ask Nam later, but as for you.” She tensed and took a step backwards, however his sad grin turned into a mischievous one. “I know you have someone picking you up. We have Nam’s phone tapped and wouldn’t have been able to find you if you didn’t make that call.”

“Well, you’re welcome,” she responded and relaxed. That was comforting to hear. Somewhat. “So, we’re not enemies?”

“Why, did you want to be?” He smirked at that and even laughed when Eclipse matched his look. “We’ll worry about that later; we have to get Nam back.” Scratching his head again, he extended a hand. “I don’t know who you are, but you’ve saved her ass twice now. I’m grateful.”

“She’s saved me plenty of times too.” She grasped his hand and gave it a shake. “Keep an eye on her.”

“What’re brothers for?” With that, he walked back to the car, jumped inside and sat behind the wheel. Namarra was sleeping in the backseat, head on Clotho’s chest and arms wrapped around his waist. The boy hugged her in return and Eclipse had to smile. Shani, in the front seat, looked like he was going to take his headphones back, but brushed her hair behind her ear instead. Apparently, he didn’t mind being without his music for a while. 

“Oh!” Eclipse shouted, grabbing their attention before they sped off. “Namarra’s sniper rifle is still at the theater.” Orga replied with a wave, put the car in drive and they were gone, leaving Eclipse behind feeling suddenly lonely. Hopefully, Yzak would get there soon.

Now _that_ thought scared her a bit.

* * *

Yzak arrived roughly twenty minutes later. It was a rather lonely twenty minutes and quite hectic given the police had come looking for the motorcycle Namarra stole. Leave it to her to dump all the problems onto Eclipse, but given the past display, she couldn’t blame her too much. It just didn’t seem fair.

Eclipse had left the bike where it fell and fled down to lie in the tall grass out of sight. She had hoped there were some trees or something around, but the only thing off the side of the road was meadow; a vast meadow with overgrown grass, mucky dirt, and an overabundance of thorns.

“Why you all dirty?” Yzak asked, finding Eclipse sitting on the side of the road. “And you look like you got mauled by a stray cat.” He wore commoner’s clothes, sporting jeans and a red T-shirt. There were even tennis shoes on his feet. For some reason, Eclipse hadn’t expected him to even own any kind of comfort wear, but she had to admit she was rather impressed. To make the whole experience even more enjoyable, he pulled up in a pick-up truck. Who knew she had a redneck rich boy on her team?

Eclipse chose not to answer his question, brushing off her pants and walking up next to him. He almost made another remark but was rendered speechless when Eclipse threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. There were so many intelligible things he could have said or even done at that moment, but he couldn’t think of anything, merely stood there and tried to keep breathing. “Uh.”

“C’mon, I really need a hug and you’re supposed to be helping,” she muttered, mouth buried into his right shoulder. 

“Huh?” It took a few more, awkward moments of hesitation before he finally crossed his arms behind her back. To any prying eyes, it would have been a cute scene. The last remaining members of the Zala team reunited by a comforting hug displaying both affection and merely the desire to forget about what had happened. 

For the next minute or so, Eclipse had to smile, feeling just as safe in Yzak’s arms as Namarra must have felt in either Shani’s or Clotho’s. She never knew how much she missed the feeling until she tried this little experiment. And while it didn’t heal anything completely, she was happy to have that sensation for even a minute. “Alright,” she said, patting him on the back as she pushed away. “Moment of feeling pathetic over with.”

“Hm,” Yzak began, blinking a couple of times as they stepped apart. “When did you turn into such a girl?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eclipse asked, placing her hands on her hips. “What’s so wrong with wanting a hug every once and a while?”

“Nothing, I guess,” he began, scratching the back of his head. “Just a bit unexpected.”

“Unexpected?”

“N-not a _bad_ unexpected, of course,” he added quickly, flailing his hands out in front as if to salvage the situation. He looked so embarrassed.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Just—never mind. Don’t tell the crew or my reputation’s dashed. C’mon, let’s get back to base.”

“Fine, fi—hey! _I’m_ driving!”

“But I wanna drive!”

“No! You look beat up as hell and I really don’t want to join Athrun in the hospital wing thanks to some damn car crash!” 

Eclipse froze with her hand on the handle to the driver’s seat. _What did he just say?_ Whipping around, she stared at Yzak as he smiled and walked closer.

“Athrun’s alive, Eclipse.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he shook his head lightly, seeing her surprised expression. “You should learn to have more faith in us. We aren’t about to leave you so easily.” 

That remark deserved another hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween, all! I know this isn't really a Halloween-y chapter, but this is one of the longest in Waltz and has quite a bit of action in it so I thought it would work nicely for the holiday. :D We have a bit of everything here: sad Eclipse, Athrun vs. Kira, Yzak x Eclipse stuff-ish, Nam vs. Lust, Eclipse vs. Pride, sad/panicked Nam, Druggies... And then, to top it all off, Athrun has been found. Yup! Definitely a lot going on here... I hope you all enjoyed it!
> 
> As I mentioned earlier, we're getting into the meat of SEED now and the next chapters are definitely the ones I've read the most often, so I hope they'll be easier to edit. I did make one change to the plot here, which is my only one, I think. I had originally had SIN-ED with their fingers deeper into creating GENESIS than I do here and after brainstorming with some friends of mine, we decided copying the N-Jammer canceller technology was probably a better bet. ZAFT already had GENESIS by this time, so it was the biggest hole in the story (from what I remember). Anyway,I've altered the conversation between Eclipse and Pride for that reason, but the end game has always been the same for him. 
> 
> Let's see... I could go into detail on every little thing in this chapter, but there's so much happening it would be hard and this note would be suuuuuper long. I absolutely love the Druggies and Nam's relationship though and I do go into more depth in that in Book 2. Just finished a heartbreaking scene actually... T.T Always willing to shove some love towards these three in particular. ;)
> 
> Anyway, going to wrap this chapter up, I think, and just thank you all for stopping in. Sorry this was a long chapter, but I hope it will keep you occupied for a little bit because I haven't gotten around to editing the next chapters yet so it might be a little bit. We shall see. 
> 
> I appreciate you stopping in, and I'll see you next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	37. Who'd a Thunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athrun's alive, but the team looks to be splitting up. Eclipse is heading up to space and reunites with a familiar face, but also reports to a new one.

** Who’d a Thunk **

Eclipse stared at the doorknob, debating whether or not to go in. Yzak and she had made it back to the base safely, and after checking in to the infirmary for her minor scratches, changing back into her elite uniform that—fortunately—covered most of said scratches, she finally found herself at his door.

“He’s not _that_ injured,” Yzak muttered, standing impatiently behind her and offering an eye roll for her slowness. He wasn’t even going to accompany her at all, but she insisted, saying Athrun was just as much his teammate as he was hers. Sighing, he gave in, but watching her hesitate, he figured it was more for _her_ support than for Athrun’s. “Here, I’ll do it.” Reaching around her, he turned the doorknob and pushed it open.

Inside, Athrun was lying on a hospital bed, head swiveling slowly in their direction when they walked in. He smiled weakly, but didn’t say anything. His face was pale with small bruises around his lower jaw. Most likely from when he ejected and hit the ground. “Twice in one day, Yzak? I must really look terrible.”

In the room, there was a reclining chair—next to a rather rickety-looking stool—in the corner situated near a small table with a lamp. One IV was stuck in Athrun’s right arm and his left one bandaged in a sling wrapped around his neck. However, other than that small stand, the other medical machines in the room were turned off and standing quietly next to the far wall. So, like Yzak had said, he wasn’t really injured, but looking at his face, she would have thought otherwise. Raw pain shown through his eyes and no matter how much the weak smile and subtle jab at Yzak tried to cover it up, his teammates were far to observant to not notice. 

They would just never bring it up for the sake of making it worse.

“Just consider yourself lucky. How ya feeling?” Yzak asked, pulling Eclipse further into the room when he realized she was still frozen by the doorway. He was definitely being blunt, but he seemed comfortable as well. Perhaps he was just happy to see his teammates alive and conscious—well, Athrun at least. Funny what a common death could do to a relationship between rivals.

Athrun shrugged, wincing when the pain from his sprained shoulder shot down to his lower back. Tensing, he caught his breath and decided talking was a better idea. “I’ll live.”

“Well, we figured that much,” the Duel pilot commented, pushing Eclipse down into the recliner as he took the stool. Propping his arm up on the armrest of the redhead’s chair, he forced out a smile. “Any news on what we’re supposed to be doing next?”

Athrun shook his head. In a way, he was glad Yzak was jumping right to business. That pilot was good at avoiding the emotional end of things so it was nice to be given the same chance for a change. Athrun really didn’t want to think about anything else anyway. “I’ve been snoozing off and on since I got here.”

“The commander was scheduled to have arrived two hours ago,” Yzak admitted with a shrug. “I have yet to see him though.”

Eclipse instantly turned to look out the window after the comment, turning away from the two in a desperate attempt to hide the look on her face. Commander Le Creuset was back. What did that mean for her? Presumably, that would mean he was taking back control of the team. He had been updated on her progress for SIN-ED and it was slow, to say the least. She had been a step behind the entire time and her next report was going to be fairly important. SIN-ED had the N-Jammer canceller intel. That was big. Was Le Creuset going to make her chase after them to get it back before they sold it? Be moved from the team to hunt them down before they became a formidable third party in this war?

It would be her own fault if that happened, she knew. She had had so many chances to take out FS, but she never did because of some damned sense of loyalty. After all, he was the backbone of the organization and she was quite confident SIN-ED would not function well without him, especially with Roan dead. Who else was going to take up the position? From what she knew, most of the high-ranking officials were dead and the ones left were not stable enough to lead the organization down a healthy path. Stray might have been a good second choice, but given his state of mind—and lack of ambition for that matter—there was no way he would have jumped at the chance of being in charge. He always seemed more interested in food concoctions than weapon manufacturing. It was as simple as putting a bullet to FS’s head, but she could never do it. And now everything was a mess.

She felt so foolish.

Yzak and Athrun continued with their small talk, seeming to not notice Eclipse’s inner dilemma; however, the redcoats were not as dense as they pretended to be. They just knew better than to pry. “I heard about Dearka; any news?”

Yzak shook his head. “Haven’t heard anything. It’s weird though, because the Buster was never found and nothing in the debris could be classified as that suit. The only two options left are AWOL or POW, but we haven’t heard news on either front.”

“Do you think he’d go AWOL?” Athrun asked, finding the situation highly unlikely, but still felt the need to bring up the possibility. After all, Yzak would know more than anyone else.

The Duel pilot shook his head immediately, scowling at the injured commander for even thinking it was possible. “There was a lot of communication with the ship before his signal was lost. He was being attacked by both the ‘Legged Ship’ and that damn mobile plane. The Stealth was one her way but—well—”

“A different fight and explosion put me out of the battle entirely,” Eclipse finished, coming back to the conversation when she heard her suit mentioned. “My cameras were damaged, opened my cockpit for a better visual—it’s an embarrassing story.”

“I think it was an embarrassing fight for most of us,” Yzak commented, knowing Athrun was going to be highly commended because he destroyed the Strike, but not feeling the need to say it out loud. Every one of them knew it, and the young commander was too emotionally unstable to have it brought up. Well, that and Yzak had wanted to be the one to destroy that suit. Perhaps he was feeling a bit jealous.

There was a moment of silence when they each digested what Yzak had said. On some levels, yes, it was a very embarrassing fight, but the Strike had been destroyed and the _Archangel_ nearly sunk. Shouldn’t that amount to something? After the hell they had been through trying to destroy that ship, shouldn’t they at least be rewarded something? Or was it an “all or nothing” situation? 

“What do you think’s going to happen to us? To our team?” Eclipse asked, still staring out the window. She had her suspicions, but was curious to hear what the others thought. They knew the power system far better than she did.

“We go from a five elite team down to three,” Yzak muttered, scratching the back of his head. “The commander will probably make sure Athrun gets some kind of honorable mention, and you—well—you’ve basically been a freelancer since the beginning, right? I was always under the impression we were more of a ‘home base’ to you than your official ‘team.’”

That stung. It wasn’t because the pilot’s logic was off, but because he had said those things so lightly, as if she really _didn’t_ matter to the team. Perhaps her version of the word “team” involved more emotional impact than Yzak’s definition and she should really pass the off comment as more of an answer to her question; however Eclipse was too tired, too worried about Dearka, too relieved to see Athrun alive, and too worried about her impending assignments to let that comment go.

“Well aren’t you fuckin’ bold,” she spat, whipping her head around to look at Yzak directly.

“Excuse me?”

“So, after all of this time of me fighting with you guys, I’m still not even being considered a member of your _team_?”

“W-what? I was just saying you were always transferring to different—t-take Commander Waltfeld’s team, for example. You were just shipped off before any of us were even considered. A-and back on the _Vesalius,_ you were a mechanic before a pilot. And you’re always running off on your own assignments—”

“Save it,” she hissed, getting to her feet before he could finish, walking around the chair, and heading for the door. Yzak managed to lean forward and catch her by the elbow before she had gotten too far, but she broke the hold easily. “No, it’s fine, I get it. You made your point. I’m going to go figure out what team I’m going to be put on.”

Athrun sighed after she stormed out, the door shutting loudly after her. “Not much has changed, I see. There’s obviously something else bothering her.”

“We’re all just a bit on edge, I guess,” Yzak muttered, surprising Athrun with the observation. He plopped down in the new open recliner and propped his elbows on his knees as he pressed his palms against his forehead. “Some team we are; we’re all basket cases on the verge of a mental breakdown.”

Athrun laughed after that one. “Ah, so you _do_ consider her a teammate.”

“Of course I do, damn it!” Yzak shouted, even blushing a bit at the absurdity of it all. “I don’t know how the hell she—hey! Stop that!”

Athrun just kept laughing.

* * *

Eclipse felt foolish for rushing out of the room like she did. She wasn’t sure why the comment had made her so angry. Yzak was merely being reasonable, and everything he had said was true. She was—in a way—a freelance pilot loaned to them to help with the _Archangel_ and—hopefully—take out SIN-ED at the same time. But maybe that was the problem right there. She had always considered herself a member of FS and Stray’s “team,” but now that they were officially considered “threats” in her mind, she was left alone. Perhaps joining Athrun’s “team” had been some psychological escape and after a while, she had come to accept it as fact when she really had nothing to do with them at all. 

Or maybe it was all just a bunch of bullshit and she should stop thinking about it.

Sighing, she stopped just outside the entrance of the building, walking off to the side and leaning up against the wall there to look up at the cloudy sky. It hadn’t been that long she had talked to FS and seen Namarra’s freak out and yet, despite everything that she had been told, she was no closer to finding any answers. FS was now labeled insane and his newly obtained intel meant she was required to report to Le Creuset, but what could she say? She had been so bad at keeping an eye on them that they had managed to steal some intelligence from ZAFT itself? And why wasn’t either she or Heine even notified? She sighed.

It was all messed up.

A large part of her felt guilty for what SIN-ED was doing and wanted to take care of them herself. Selfish? Most likely, but ZAFT should be paying more attention to the war and less attention to the small fry she was trained to kill. _That’s right,_ she thought, _worry about destroying the Earth Forces._ She laughed after the comment; she couldn’t help it. It was all so stupid. The Naturals wanted to destroy the Coordinators because they are genetically enhanced, and the Coordinators wanted to destroy the Naturals because they attacked first.

Genes.

It seemed like such a little thing to be killing over.

The doors slid open next to her, but she never heard them close. Not like it was something unusual, but the redhead felt the need to turn and see what the problem was. Perhaps she was just avoiding her emotional turmoil. 

And jumping headlong into panic.

Commander Le Creuset was looking at something on his phone and muttering something to a greencoat next to him. It seemed to be a serious matter seeing the look on the young officer’s face. His eyes were sharp and alert, but there seemed to be some sweat droplets littering his forehead. Knowing Eclipse was frozen there and terrified, she could only imagine how that officer must be feeling standing next to that man. The commander was wearing his white, ZAFT uniform, looking much the same as when she had seen him last. The biggest difference, however, was how he composed himself. He had seemed confident before, but now he looked downright cocky. Something must have happened while they were all off chasing the _Archangel_ , but she had no idea what. All she knew was she really didn’t want him to see her.

But her luck failed again.

He turned in her direction after he dialed a number, politely twisting away from the greencoat to make the call, but ended up locking eyesight with Eclipse. Unable to think of anything else, she forced her frozen body to salute and tried to flee, but he held up a hand for her to wait and motioned for her to meet him inside. _Shit,_ she cursed. After all this time, still unable to ignore a direct command.

He finished up his phone call a few minutes later, shooing the greencoat away and walking back through the doorway to where she had stopped just inside and near the door. They saluted each other again as he motioned her to sit in an open pair of chairs to their left.

“Ah, Lunar Eclipse, I’m happy to see you well. Have you been up to see Athrun already?” She nodded. “I see. He must be exhausted yet, so I’ll go see him tomorrow,” he muttered to himself before returning his attention to her. “I hope you have a more recent update for me on SIN-ED because some members have been seen in multiple areas in outer space. ZAFT really doesn’t have the resources to be taking on that organization right now, so I’m hoping you’re going to tell me everything is okay and there is no reason for me to worry.”

Eclipse sighed and her eyes shifted around to see if anyone was within earshot. They were sitting in a rather open lobby, but not close enough to the desk to cause any alarm and still far enough away from the door to gather eavesdroppers. “I do have a report for you, sir,” she started, turning to check behind her. “And it’s not going to be the best of news.” It was hard to read his expression completely, but she could tell he was interested in what she had to say. Perhaps SIN-ED was making more people nervous than he was letting on. “I spoke to one of the members and they seem to be in pretty thick with the EA and have some contacts with ZAFT, though to what extent, I’m not sure.” She sighed and took one more glance around. “Sir, they said they have the N-Jammer canceller technology and have some people interested in it.”

Le Creuset’s response was what Eclipse had both expect and not at the same time. He looked shocked and she even heard the slight gasp, but she felt herself tense at the reaction. Something about it felt fake and she shivered. Was she missing something?

“That’s a horrible surprise to be sure,” he said, his voice quiet as his attention turned towards the center of the room, thinking most likely. “And this member you talked to, just said this straight out?” She nodded. “Have you been able to confirm his claims?”

“Not yet, sir, sorry.”

“I see…”

“He said something more, sir, in that they’re helping to build some kind of weapon or system in space. I have a feeling that is why you’re getting reports on activity.”

He nodded slowly, lost in thought, and Eclipse had to unclench the fist in her lap. For some reason, he was making her nervous. He hadn’t acted the way she had expected when she told him the news. In fact, he seemed almost unsurprised by her report. Did he know more than he was letting on?

“Very good, Eclipse, thank you.” He paused again and Eclipse really wished she could have seen the upper part of his face. She wanted to try and read what he was thinking, what his eyes were trying to convey, but instead she was left clueless.

And nervous.

“That means we need you in space. Let me make a couple of calls and I’ll put you on a team and get you some resources.”

“Space, sir? A new team?”

He nodded again slowly, as if she wasn’t there anymore. He definitely hadn’t caught on to her disappointment of leaving Athrun and Yzak behind, but, perhaps, that was the answer to their previous question in Athrun’s room. Apparently, they were all probably getting transferred.

“I’ll arrange a shuttle for you right away,” He continued, standing and nodding. “But know what you have just told me should not be shared with anyone else. You are back under my command until your transfer in space and you are by no means to tell anyone else about this.”

“Of course, sir.”

She stood next and saluted, him nodding in return. “We should probably let Athrun rest for now, so you go and do the same. I’ll have someone inform you when your shuttle is leaving.” 

They parted ways and she released the breath she had been holding. So, she was off the team after all. She hadn’t seen Yzak come down from Athrun’s room so either he was still up there chatting, or he had somehow snuck out while she was giving her report. Shrugging she took one more look around before walking out through the door, deciding to wait until morning before apologizing to him.

* * *

Eclipse woke up early that morning and headed straight to the hospital. Ironically, she had had a rather scary dream involving Athrun going into cardiac arrest, Yzak getting assigned back to the desert, as well as seeing both Dearka and Nicol die gruesomely next to a laughing Commander Le Creuset. She had tried to wake herself up after watching Nicol getting cut in half by the Strike’s sword, but suddenly the scene had jumped to a white sheet covering a body on a hospital bed. She didn’t even have to pull the fabric aside to know it was Athrun. Waking up to constant ringing of the heart monitor reading flat line was not a good alarm. 

The nurse let her pass and she reached Athrun’s room without too much difficulty. Quietly opening the door, she peeked inside and gulped. There on the bed was the same white sheet covering a—seemingly—motionless body. None of her dreams had ever come true so she didn’t think the young commander was dead, but the teasing thought of “maybe” made her gulp. Closing the door behind her, she walked to the bed and glanced at him. He was lying on his right side, the sheets pulled up over his left shoulder and close to his face. His right hand hung over the side of the bed, looking a bit uncomfortable, but if he was sleeping so soundly, it couldn’t have been too bad. His breathing was steady, his injured arm rocking with the motion as it stayed strapped to his side. A couple strands of hair lay near his eyes, but his face seemed peaceful, nothing like the pitiful state she had seen him in the night before. 

Sighing, she smiled and collapsed into the recliner. _So, he’s alive,_ she thought, rubbing her forehead as if to erase the wrinkles that had formed thanks to her constant worrying. She was afraid her visit the night before had only been some kind of dream thought up by her psyche in order to protect her sanity. She half expected to find out she fell asleep in the truck and Yzak had carried her inside to rest, only to hear the next morning how Athrun had tragically passed away while she was out lollygagging with Namarra and her three teammates.

Sometimes she hated her overactive imagination.

But there he was, alive and breathing in his bed, looking semi-comfortable on his side and—for once—peaceful. However, she couldn’t help but ask herself, how long would it last? Until he woke up, most likely, and then the nightmare would start all over again. 

“Oh, I see he finally fell asleep,” one of the nurses muttered, writing down some of the information from the monitors. “I was afraid he would be up all night.” She smiled briefly at Athrun before turning her attention to Eclipse, offering that same grin. She looked to be only a few years older than the redhead and glancing at her left hand, Eclipse saw a diamond wrapped around her ring finger. Another thing she noticed was the warm glow emitting from that smile and lovely brown eyes. Looking back down at that left hand, the redhead also saw how it absently rubbed her stomach, an involuntary action that seemed to be nothing more than an unconscious reaction to some very recent news. Watching the soft look in her eyes, Eclipse figured her motherly instincts must have kick in.

“Are you a friend of his?” she asked, walking over to the recliner so she didn’t have to shout across the room.

Eclipse nodded.

“I see. Perhaps you should let him rest for now, though. Come back a little later maybe, when he’s rested and has had something to eat?”

The redhead smiled and shook her head. “If it’s okay, I’d like to just stay here.” That question received another grin and under her clipboard, the nurse held out a hardcover book. Eclipse didn’t recognize either the title or the author, but took it nonetheless, knowing it was a good way to pass the time. “Thank you.” One last smile and she was gone. Scooting down further into the chair, the redhead glanced over at the bed and then started reading.

She hadn’t gotten too far when she started getting restless. Normally, she didn’t have extra time to do activities such as reading, so she couldn’t help feeling guilty after an hour. Athrun had stirred only a couple of times, but—for the most part—still seemed in a deep sleep. Neither Yzak nor Commander Creuset had stopped by yet, but seeing as it was just turning 0800 hours, their tardiness was expected.

It was her third trip to stretch her legs, and mostly because Athrun’s nightmares had made _her_ more scared of the shadows on the walls than him. After all the moaning, it had gotten hard to just sit there and watch him suffer. She had debated waking him, but knew it would just be delaying his pain. The nurses had come in and given him some kind of medicine to calm his nerves, but he was a bit more durable than that.

And definitely more scarred.

Eclipse had just arrived at his room and opened the door when something slammed into her, sending her further into the room. She yelped—luckily not waking her young commander—but couldn’t move as that “something’s” embrace kept her arms locked at her sides. Blinking, she spit a couple of loose, orange strands from her mouth. “H-Heine?”

“So, it _is_ you after all!” He let her go and held her out at arms length, giving her body a full checkout before returning to her face. Eclipse sighed, but was too surprised to hold it against him right then. 

And because of that smile.

After all the time they had been apart, Eclipse—admittedly—had forgotten about him. She would never say that to his face, but it put a perspective on things. She had wasted so much time worrying about FS and Stray—two friends who didn’t give a shit—she neglected those who genuinely seemed interested in her wellbeing.

“It’s been so long!” he announced, wrapping her into another hug. Laughing, he lifted her up off the ground and spun her in a small circle, trying not to knock over any important medical equipment. 

Eclipse started laughing when he set her back down, squeezing him tightly before letting go. “What the hell are you _doing_ here?”

"Would you believe I’m injured?” Seeing she wasn’t convinced, he held up his right hand, extending his pointer finger. A pale plaster was wrapped near the knuckle.

Eclipse’s eye looked at the bandage then slithered back up to his face, frowning at the pouting lips and punching him in the shoulder. “You’re ridiculous.” He just smiled.

Athrun shifted in his sleep, muttering something incomprehensible as a nightmare attacked his subconscious. Heine, noticing the pilot for the first time, sighed sadly and pulled the redhead out into the hall. “Who’s that?”

“My commander,” she responded with a slight glance through the doorway before it closed. “It’s been a rough couple of days.”

"I can tell. How’re _you_ doing?”

Eclipse didn’t respond, looking down and away. Honestly, she was doing better than she had been a few days before, but overall? She sighed. Nicol was dead, Dearka was missing, Athrun was bedridden and Yzak was a bit off his game, which made her think he was far more emotional than he was letting on. But telling Heine would mean nothing more than clearing her own conscience. He didn’t know any of them.

Heine smiled lightly and pulled her into another hug. He said, “I’m sorry,” once and pushed her out at arm’s length after the initial tight squeeze. “Nice to see you caring so much, not gonna lie.” He winked and she found herself smiling slightly. “But you look exhausted, my dear, and I’m a bit worried about you.”

“Me?” she asked, her smiled growing, perhaps in an effort to not make him worry too much. They were having this odd habit of running into each other and while it was always nice, the fear in her mind couldn’t help but wondering if there would be a time she wouldn’t. Perhaps it was because of he team’s most recent brush-in with death and their missing teammates, but the uncertainty was starting to grow. War was never kind and her and Heine were on different teams. Would there be a time a message of his death await her arrival at base instead of him? And vice versa?

Seems he was right again. She had started to care a bit more.

Shaking her head at his confusion, she pointed to the bandage on his hand and laughed. “ _Clearly_ you’re the one closer to danger than me.”

Laughing, he rolled his eyes and pushed her shoulder. “I suppose.” He was amused by her statement, she could tell, but he didn’t seem satisfied with her evasion.

Unfortunately, that was all she was willing to get into at that time. “But really, Heine, what _are_ you doing here?”

“Oh, I totally forgot; they’re building me a suit! Me! A suit!” Grasping her shoulders, he gave them a firm shake in excitement. “I’m heading to outer space in a couple of hours to oversee the work. They’re almost done,” he exclaimed, sweeping his arms out wide and twirling in a circle. “I’m so excited!”

“So, I see.”

“And guess what they’re calling it.”

“What?”

“The ZGMF-X10A Freedom!” he rattled off, not even stuttering over the technical name. “Doesn’t it sound so important? And it’s just like the prototypes! Only better!”

“Oh?” Eclipse asked, obviously underestimating his abilities if he had been chosen to pilot a new unit based off the prototypes. In the short time the ZAFT military had access to the schematics of the original prototypes, they had built her the Stealth. No doubt they had advanced their technology enough to have that machine be one scary son of a mobile suit. _Heine though, huh? Impressive…_

Heine continued his monologue, clearly proud of himself and she found herself letting his ego overflow. Perhaps she should have kept a closer eye one him. “…I’m trying to get them to paint it orange. Not really a fan of white, y’know. It’d definitely clash with the other red machine, but—”

“Other suit?”

“Oh—yeah, there’s two of them. Don’t really remember the name—Honor, Revelation, Almighty—something along those lines.”

“Do you know the pilot?”

“Still be assigned, I think,” he replied with a shrug. “A lot of redcoats shuffling around these days as we seem to be losing more than we’re gaining, unfortunately.”

“I see…” Her voice trailed off and Heine must have understood the gesture. Reaching out, he hit her shoulder again.

“Lathan was asked to personally help out with the two new prototypes, you know. He’s gained a bit of a reputation himself.”

“My brother?”

“Yup, same gene pool. He did come up with the CA after all.”

“That’s true, no matter how many kinks are in the system.”

“Kinks?” he echoed, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” She sighed. “It needs an attitude adjustment.”

“Attitude?”

Eclipse nodded, shaking her head as she remembered the most recent problems with the system. In other incidents it may have been hilarious, but in mid-battle, it was slightly unnerving. “I would’ve started looking into it myself if I wasn’t so afraid of damaging the system. I mean, it’s almost as if you or Lathan were there with me.”

Heine started laughing then, putting a hand over his eyes and shaking his head. “Lathan said it wouldn’t—”

“ _What_ did he say?”

“He was talking about putting in some kind of modifying—synchronizing—what’cha ma-hoozit, but I didn’t think he’d actually do it!”

The redhead blinked and then crossed her arms over her chest. Tapping a foot on the floor, she waited for him to clarify, but he seemed too amused with himself. “Your mechanic terminology is amazing.”

“I’m sorry, just an inside joke.” Clearing his throat, he straightened and fixed his collar. Flattening his grin, he stared at her, the faintest of glimmer in his eyes. “I’m sorry to hear about your troubles.”

“Whatever,” Eclipse grumbled, a smile twitching at her lips when she remembered how animated he could be. “So, how long ‘til your shuttle leaves?”

“About two hours.”

“Alright, let’s get out of here. I’m starting to feel awkward and restless just waiting for something to happen.”

“Coffee?”

“Coffee.”

* * *

Eclipse was the one to wave goodbye to Heine this time and—surprisingly—able to be enthusiastic about it. He had never come out and actually said she had changed, but she could feel the difference in herself. His harmless flirting didn’t even bother her as much—at least until he went overboard and she was forced to kick him under the table. Overall, she enjoyed the meeting and actually felt like sharing her good mood with Athrun in an effort to make him feel better. Trekking back to his room, she was about to push open the door when she heard someone talking.

Commander Le Creuset.

"Nonsense, you were splendid. I heard about everything.”

"Splendid?” Athrun echoed, Eclipse barely hearing the word. He still sounded out of it.

“I should be the one apologizing for not getting you help sooner. The sacrifice made _was_ significant, but, I’m afraid, it couldn’t be helped. It’s a testament to how formidable your friend _really_ was.” 

There was a short pause as the redhead bit her tongue. It was a blunt statement, but still true. Judging by the small gasp on the other side of the door, Athrun found it just as startling. 

“I know it’s been a difficult series of battles for you,” Le Creuset continued. “Miguel, Nicol, Commander Waltfeld, Commander Morassim—they, as well as many other soldiers have lost their lives to him.” He paused again, gathering his thoughts, most likely. “Since you are the one who defeated him, your abilities are highly valued in the homeland. The decision has been made to honor you with the Order of the Nebula. Also, much to my regret, I’ve received word that you’ve been transferred to the special forces reporting directly to the National Defense Committee.”

Eclipse slid her hand from the handle and backed away from the door after that, more full of shock than happiness. Of course, she was pleased for her comrade, but to hear that he was leaving, was terrifying. So, they _were_ breaking up after all. It was one thing to speculate it and another altogether to hear it. She was happy no one could see her then, figuring the look on her face ranged between pure horror and complete dismay. 

The conversation went on inside, but Eclipse didn’t hear any more of it, still trying to digest her newest situation. She was leaving for space soon, but what could she do? Try to spend as much time with her friends as she could before then? But Athrun was still in recovery and she had only seen Yzak for a second before coming here. He had said he would see her off, but other than that, he had been scarce the entire day. So, what then? Should she just leave?

Some rustling sounded inside the room, jolting Eclipse out of her thoughts. When she heard footsteps heading towards the door, she nearly turned and bolted down the corridor. Unfortunately, her body refused to move and she was almost sliced with the door as it swung open.

“Ah, Lunar Eclipse, what are you doing so close to the door?” Commander Le Creuset asked, but she gave no response. “No matter, did you hear anything about your departure yet?” She shook her head. “Hm, I’ll see what I can find out because I _need_ you up there.”

Eclipse just nodded and watched him carefully, her eyes flickering every once and a while at Athrun. He was watching them, but didn’t seem to be paying too much attention to what they were saying. He seemed to perk up, however when Creuset mentioned SIN-ED. “I really wish I knew who SIN-ED planned on selling that intel to. I don’t like the idea of that being so easily accessible.” The redhead watched him silently, wishing she could see his eyes shift or even shimmer suspiciously. Staring at that white mask, though, just made her nervous. She really didn’t know what was going on in that head of his and it frightened her. But no matter what plans he was devising, the tone in his voice made him seem guilty, somehow, as if he knew more than he was letting on. Was he doing that on purpose? To make her suspicious? To throw her off guard? “I’ll look into your flight. You’ll be here?” the commander asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.” They saluted and he walked down the hallway. Eclipse disappeared into the room before he had turned the corner, and closed the door in a hurry. Now that she had some sense of emotion, that man was intimidating.

“You okay?” Athrun asked from the bed, his voice sounded like he cared, but his face displayed nothing. He still looked so lifeless.

“I think that’s my question for you.” He turned away and back to the window, causing a sigh to slip through her lips. If he cared, he didn’t show it. “Sorry, I guess that was the wrong thing to bring up.”

“No—I just—” He stopped, shaking his head. “I just—”

“You should just quit talking and rest. Teammate’s orders. You look like shit.”

His mouth twitched at that. “So, now _you’re_ bossing me around?”

“I thought the change of pace would be nice.” She shrugged and scooted the extra chair over near his bed. One of nurses must have put it back against the wall. “Need anything?”

“A ticket out of here?”

“You’re next to a window, just jump.”

“Three stories?”

"Wait a few moments and I’ll go down to catch you.”

“Heh, that’d be a sight, wouldn’t it?” She shrugged again and smiled, finally getting one on Athrun’s face as well. A small silence passed, but it was comforting to know they were now comfortable enough with each other where it was actually nice. They both had a lot on their mind, but hadn’t sorted it out well enough to talk about.

Staring at the sheets on the bed, Eclipse fiddled with the cuff on her left wrist. She hadn’t apologized to him yet. She had pushed him over the edge; she had to have. Without her constant nagging, he may not have destroyed the Strike and now be so lifeless. If she hadn’t played the revenge motif, perhaps he would be okay.

Or he could be dead.

Had she done the right thing after all? If she hadn’t have made him so angry, would he not have been able to destroy the Strike? Wasn’t his life more important than his grief? Did that even make any sense?

“I saw your cousin again,” he said, quietly, turning to look at her that time. “I owe her my life, actually,” he continued.

“You mean Cagalli?”

Athrun nodded. “Apparently, she knew Kira—the Strike pilot.”

“So, she’s back in Orb then?”

“I guess she stayed behind. That’s good,” he added with a sigh. “I thought I killed her in that plane. She flew in one similar when I met her earlier.”

“Well, I’m glad it wasn’t too,” she remarked, vaguely remembering the Skygrasper’s destruction that spurred the battle into a desperate frenzy.

“No, it was a different friend of his.”

Eclipse couldn’t say anything about that one, deciding to look down at her hands instead of embarrassing herself with eye contact. She had been so mad when that pilot—Kira, that was his name—had killed Nicol that she didn’t even think about the pain she was going through as well—was _still_ going through. But to wish that onto another person? No matter what he had done, did he deserve it? _Yes,_ her mind remarked immediately. She shook the urge away as soon as she thought it. Looking at Athrun’s face, she would have said Kira didn’t deserve it. 

No, she had to start getting her impulses under control.

“Did I do the right thing?” Athrun asked.

Eclipse looked up and tried to see his eyes, but he was looking back out the window. Finally, she sighed. “From a military standpoint, yes. From the view of you and Kira being friends, no. But from my point of view—us being teammates and knowing what he did—” She paused, afraid to admit it to him, but at the same time knowing he had to hear it. “Remembering what he did to Nicol, Commander Waltfeld, Aisha and—just—everyone else, I’m glad you killed him.” She heard him tense after that, his breath catching in his throat and his muscles stiffening.

“I see.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you have every right to hate him.”

“But not at the expense of hurting you.” She just said it. Another impulse.

There was silence, but it was almost as if the phrase was nothing more than a statement of truth than some kind of confession. In fact, even to Eclipse it was just a remark; just her expressing herself. It was the truth. Her bluntness had been hurting a lot of people lately and she had decided she was going to make it stop.

“Thanks. I just wish that he—well—I—”

“Athrun, he needed to be—” She stopped.

Apparently, she’d have to work harder at not being impulsive.

“I’m sorry,” she added quickly, looking away in embarrassment.

Silence again, awkward this time. Eclipse mentally punched herself, knowing a mere slap wasn’t going to be justice enough for her word vomit. Her hatred and urges were hard to understand. At one point she as spewing something about not wanting to hurt her commander, and then her mouth opens and that spills out. It was as if the Berserker was mocking her, making her life miserable because that half was being blamed for everything of late. Yeah, that was it.

Payback.

“I think I’m gonna try and sleep a bit.”

“A-alright.” He turned over then, not looking at her and pulled the covers up to his injured shoulder. Before he could blissfully fall asleep and leave Eclipse feeling horrible about what had happened, she spoke up, pulling at her fingers in her lap. “I-is it okay if I stay? I won’t disturb you, I promise.” No response. “I-I’ll be leaving soon anyway so—” She stopped, never hearing him shift, but she happened to look up just in time to see the humorous glint in his eye. No smile, but at least he didn’t seem angry with her. Perhaps he had come to anticipate her impulses.

"Just don’t wake me. I may be bedridden for now, but I can still kick your ass.”

That remark surprised her, but she quickly recovered and played along. If he was going to talk smack, she was going to also. “But I’m closer to the crash cart. Two paddles, two arms. How’re your reflexes again?”

“You underestimate me.”

“You _over_ estimate yourself.”

“You never fought me, you wouldn’t know.”

Smirking, she stood and put her hands on her hips. “I’ll take that as a challenge and will call you on it when I come back from space.”

He just nodded and turned back around, staring out the window and listening to her sit back down. He decided not to bring up his transfer. Thinking about leaving his team behind and possibly being alone for the rest of the war did not seem like a good thing to do before drifting off to sleep. Not only would his dreams be horrendous, but he’d be afraid to wake and see if his reality was worse. He had thought killing Kira would make him numb and such a transfer wouldn’t matter, but after seeing how many times Yzak had bothered to stop by and knowing Eclipse was always sitting in the room, Athrun felt himself becoming more and more attached to them. Given, he’d never admit it—and figured shock played a huge role in that attachment—but right then, he was content to fall asleep with the redhead starting another book in the recliner. 

He would worry about his emotions when he woke up and she wasn’t there anymore.

* * *

Packed and standing at the terminal, Eclipse tapped her foot impatiently. Her shuttle was scheduled to leave in 10 minutes and still there was no sign of Yzak. To be honest, she was rather surprised he had promised to see her off, finding it a little out of character for her usually hotheaded and distant comrade. She wasn’t going to complain though, feeling a little better knowing _someone_ from her team was going to see her off. Perhaps he still felt bad from his random comment the other day. At any rate, he didn’t have much time and no matter how much she wanted to be waving at someone when she took off, she just couldn’t wait for him.

Sighing, she turned just as someone came hustling towards her. She didn’t have to turn back to know who the sloth was.

“E-Eclipse—hey!” Yzak shouted, most likely figuring out she was ignoring him. “That’s not fair—”

“Y’know, when you promise someone you’ll meet them, usually you arrive _before_ they leave,” Eclipse muttered, shaking her head when he just shrugged. She should have figure she would be the only one who really cared.

“Sorry, I just got my reassignment.”

“Really? Where?”

“Well, I’m still with Commander Le Creuset, but they want me to lead a squad for Operation SpitBreak.”

She beamed at that, proud of her fellow teammate. “That’s awesome! I’m glad to hear you and Athrun are going to do so well.”

“You heard about his transfer then?” She nodded. “Is it foolish of me to say I’m jealous?”

“No, because I am too,” she admitted. “But—to be honest—I’m rather scared for your squad. You _do_ know the Earth is the big blue planet and not the white one, right?”

“How rude,” Yzak remarked with a cocky smirk on his mouth. Apparently, he enjoyed the praise no matter how much he was complaining. “The next thing you’re going to tell me is that it’s round.”

“Oh, thank God,” she breathed, holding out a hand as she steadied herself. “You knew about that.”

“Hey!”

“Ma’am, we must get going,” the shuttle pilot egged, sticking his head out the side door. Technically, there was five minutes until they had to depart, but he had seen enough “couples” saying their goodbyes that a pre-warning was always necessary.

“Coming!” Eclipse yelled, turning back to Yzak and pointing a finger at him. “But seriously, don’t you die. I’m not there to keep an eye on you.”

“And you don’t do anything stupid either,” he countered. “I can’t come running to _your_ rescue anymore.”

The shuttle pilot sighed and walked back inside. Their bickering was getting ridiculous and the tension was suffocating. When in doubt, leave. If she didn’t hop on in time, it wasn’t his problem. He was on a schedule.

“Here,” Yzak said, holding out a large mug of coffee. Eclipse had no idea how she missed it in his hand. “For the trip.”

“Aw, how thoughtful,” she teased, offering a smile in return. “He can be taught to fetch, folks.”

“Good luck, Eclipse.”

“You too, Yzak. Remember what I said.” Turning, she took a couple of steps up onto the stairs then stopped. “Oh, say goodbye to Athrun for me?”

“Roger that.”

* * *

Eclipse didn’t know what to expect when she returned to space, but the crushing feeling of loneliness was not it. It had only been about three days since Athrun had recovered and she had never really had a decent conversation with him. They always involved her making a fool of herself, or some harmless bickering where her only goal was to make him feel better. Now, she wished someone could make her sickening feeling of abandonment go away. She had felt it a little bit when Yzak had said goodbye to her at the terminal—and even more so when she saw the emptiness of space—but never felt the flooring sense of the emotion until she walked into one of the ZAFT headquarters on Aprilias 1 and saw the hundreds of people filling the ground level. 

And realizing she knew none of them.

Visually collecting herself—shaking out the tension in her shoulders—she took a step through the doorway and headed to the front desk. More than anything, the place looked like a hotel lobby. Two staircases slithered up the side walls, meeting at the second floor as it jutted out over the elevators and desk she was walking to. The carpet was a maroon color, fading to pink thanks to the bustling people stepping on it minute after minute. Looking up, Eclipse almost expected to see an elegant chandelier but—despite the ritzy interior—she was happy to see the typical rows and columns of rectangular lights. As pretty as a dangling, glass chandelier would have been, she would hate to be standing under it if the place was attacked.

Weaving through the crowd—trying not to hit anyone with her bag—the redhead arrived at the oak monstrosity and saluted. “Lunar Eclipse reporting.”

The greencoat behind the desk returned the salute and shuffled through some files on his computer. “Welcome back to space, ma’am. It says here you are to report to a Gilbert Durandal in Sector 2-C.”

 _Durandal?_ she thought, not recognizing the name. And the area was just as quizzical, remembering most of the C Sectors were reserved for medical departments or anything closely related. At the very least, she expected to be reporting to a military commander, not a doctor. “Where is Sector 2-C, sir?”

“About three miles from here. Uh, take this,” the greencoat said, handing her a map of the complex. “Each area is marked in black and the transportation spots are marked in red.”

“Ah, thank you, sir.”

“Is there a certain time she is supposed to report?”

Eclipse instinctively tensed at the voice and spun around when the man interrupted. There next to her was a greencoat, tipping his hat in apology and showing a goofy grin under a familiar pair of humorous eyes. His hair was cropped short and almost impossible to spot, but a couple locks of red hair down near his ears were enough of a visual for her to catch her breath.

The man blinked behind the desk looked just as confused as Eclipse was surprised. Clearing his throat, he asked a question of his own. “I’m sorry, but who are you? If you’re Mr. Durandal—”

“Oh, sorry, I was simply asking because I would like to borrow this soldier for a couple of hours.”

“Excuse me, sir, ‘borrow?’” the man asked, finding the terminology a bit strange. And questionable, to say the least.

“Alright, maybe that wasn’t the _best_ word to use, but I’m Lieutenant Martin DaCosta currently assigned to the new battleship _Eternal_. Lunar Eclipse was stationed at Banadiya with me a couple of months ago and I merely wanted the opportunity to have a word with her. You can check my credentials if you want.”

“Is this true?” the man asked Eclipse, glancing through the records at the same time.

“Yes, it is.” She nodded, glad her mind remembered how to tell her lungs to expand and retract. “Was there an assigned time I was to meet my new superior?”

“No, ma’am, nothing specific. It just says to report.”

“Very well then, I will do that as soon as I am free. My mobile suit will be transferred without trouble?” 

He nodded and looked through some more files. Clearing his throat, he smiled. “Everything seems to check out.” 

“Thank you for the assistance.” They all saluted once more before DaCosta pulled her away.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered as soon as they were back outside. “I was afraid I was going to lose you in the crowd.”

“So, you eavesdropped?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips; however, she couldn’t really be mad at him. Hell, she was still surprised to see him.

He just shrugged and grabbed her arm again. “C’mon, there’s someone who wants to see you and we have a _lot_ to catch up on.”

“Someone wants to see me?”

DaCosta smiled and opened the passenger door of the car parked at the curb. “And someone you want to see as well.”

Curious, she jumped in.

* * *

The drive was relatively short so there wasn’t much time for anything other than idle chatter. DaCosta had been just as surprised to see her as she was him. “Who’d a thunk? A routine check-in at HQ would amounting to this?” he wondered excitedly for the fourth time that ride. “I just might have to see if you can get transferred to our team.”

Eclipse didn’t miss the word “our” but decided to wait for an explanation later. She was more occupied with the idea of transferring. “Oh yeah, you said you’re assigned to a new battleship?”

“Yup, it’s called the _Eternal_. Hottest and most powerful ship off the assembly line. It’s supposed to be the carrier for ZAFT’s newest prototype models.”

“Prototype? You mean mobile suits?” DaCosta nodded, casting a suspicious eye her way. She was very well informed. “Is the Freedom one of them?”

Parking the car, he turned a sharp eye in her direction. “And how do you know about that?”

“A friend of mine is the pilot.”

“One of your old teammates?” he asked.

“No, someone else,” she replied, opening the door and stepping out. “But don’t you know anything about the pilots?” DaCosta didn’t respond immediately, walking up to the front door and holding it open for her. They had arrived at what looked like an apartment building. However, judging by the couple hanging out in front of one of the doors, it housed mostly ZAFT personnel. High-ranking ones too, she figured, when she registered the white uniform the male was wearing. The female was dressed in a skirt and blouse, but just the way she stood proved she was a soldier as well.

“Nothing yet. I didn’t even know they officially assigned pilots to them,” DaCosta admitted. “And it scares me that someone _not_ on the team does.” Shaking his head, he led them to the pair of elevators at the end of the first hallway and pressed the up button before stepping inside. Pushing the top floor number, he leaned back against the railing.

Eclipse walked in close behind him. “I think it should scare you more that _you_ have no idea. And—my goodness! The top floor? You couldn’t get a better room?”

“It’s not mine and it’s more like an office than an apartment. A last moment idea.” He sighed, dropping his hands to the side and shaking his head. “I know it’s not the best place for an office, but he _insisted_. At least it has good ventilation.”

The redhead cocked an eyebrow at that, not entirely sure if he was talking to her or himself; however, before she could decide on responding or not, the elevator slowed and stopped on the floor three below the top. Another commander stepped in, the three of them offering salutes to each other before he chose the other corner to stand in. Since he didn’t choose a different floor, Eclipse assumed he was heading up with them. Everything was quiet after that.

They reached the top floor a couple of minutes later, both men motioning for the redhead to go first. Blinking, she offered a quiet thank you and stepped off. DaCosta put a hand on her arm once he stepped off, letting the commander go first down the hallway. In fact, they didn’t even start walking until he had closed the door behind him. “Here, this way,” DaCosta said, pulling her to the door at the end of the hall near the stairs. After taking a quick look through the window to the stairwell, he knocked twice on the apartment door, kicked the wall just to the left of the doorframe, and pulled out a key. Unlocking the door, he turned the knob and motioned for her to go inside.

“Took you long enough,” muttered a voice from a side room. It sounded familiar, but Eclipse didn’t have time to contemplate who it was when the greencoat brushed past her to set the key down on the only table in the dining room. Eclipse glanced at the kitchen counter after admiring the large living room and television. The counter was cluttered with paper, stacks as long as her arms on either side and smaller ones in between. She couldn’t get a good look as to the contents, but she didn’t exactly try either. Technically, it was none of her business.

“Y’know,” DaCosta started, sighing loudly when he saw her staring at the mess, “you could at least make this place look presentable. After all, I brought a guest.”

“A guest?” The voice sounded angry now and Eclipse instinctively tensed when she heard a loud rustling—followed by some cursing when, she guessed, a chair fell over—echo down the hallway. Was she not supposed to be there? But would DaCosta make such an amateur mistake? And was this the person who wanted to see her? After all, she didn’t come all the way—

She froze. 

The man who stormed into the room stared at her for a second before bursting out into excited laughter. Stopping at the dining room table, he muttered something to DaCosta, shook his head and started laughing again. Holding out a hand, he waited.

Eclipse knew that man, the one with an arm open wide and waiting for the redhead to fling herself into the embrace. His left sleeve was pinned to his shoulder, the arm missing from the elbow down. But looking at the expression on his face, no one would have guessed he was upset about it. A goofy smile danced with the light sparkle in his one, good eye. His left eye was gone, an ugly—but somehow nostalgic—scar marking the spot. There was a cane leaning against the table, but he seemed to be standing fine on his own. “Aw, c’mon, don’t be shy,” he teased, beckoning her over with twiddling fingers.

DaCosta laughed from beside him, the deep rumbling pulling her out of her stupor. “I heard you were given some false information.” He chuckled again. “That’s really him. As unfortunate as that sometimes may be,” he added after a moment, being rewarded with hard elbow to his side.

That was all Eclipse needed to hear; all she needed clarified in order to realize she hadn’t gone insane yet. Taking a few more hesitant steps forward, she stumbled towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest and secretly begging the tears to not fall down her cheeks. Traces of coffee grounds littered the front of his shirt, tickling her nose as she hugged him tighter. However, she didn’t care because it really was him. He was solid; not an apparition, not a damn figment of her overactive imagination, and not a coffee hallucination. He really _was_ there.

“Hey—hey, take it easy. I was dead, remember?” He laughed as he said it, patting her back and trying to keep his balance at the same time. 

DaCosta chuckled again from next them, hands on his hips and shaking his head. Remembering how she had reacted to that man’s apparent death, he couldn’t help the laughter. “I’ll get the coffee so we can all catch up.”

“Good thinking, DaCosta! Bring in the big mugs and the entire pot! There’s more than one addict in here now!”

Yup, Commander Waltfeld was definitely alive.

* * *

“So, what brings you to space? I had the feeling you’d be stuck on Earth for the rest of this damn war.” They had finally made it to a sitting position, the two taking each of the couches across from each other. The room looked vaguely like the one at Banadiya. Two couches, a coffee table between them, and three chairs scattered about the room. The commander’s coffee experiments were set up on a dresser near the window. Apparently, DaCosta had finally convinced him to open his windows at least, knowing how stuffy it got in the room when his creativity went overboard. Another desk sat next behind the couch Waltfeld was relaxing in, covered with stacks of papers and one photo frame—presumably of Aisha.

“Why on Earth?” Eclipse asked.

He took a sip of his mug, the redhead smiling in her cup when she saw a cartoon-like tiger grinning back at her. Leave it to the commander to find a mug like that. “Well, that _is_ where the Earth Alliance is strongest and your team is powerful. Wait—you _are_ on the same team, right?”

Eclipse nodded quickly and then it slowed, her head slowly shifting to shake from side to side. “For the most part? Maybe. We’ve—well—lost two pilots recently and our commander’s been reassigned, but we’re still a team.” She paused. “I think.”

“Ah,” Waltfeld muttered, his face falling with the redhead’s changing mood. Her mouth curved into a frown as her fingers traced the rim of the mug. Sighing, she didn’t look up until the Tiger started talking again. “Is it too much to ask about what happened?”

“No, it’s alright. After the desert and—well—after that,” she stuttered, DaCosta and Waltfeld exchanging looks. The younger soldier had already explained to his old friend about what had happened after the battle. “We were still ordered to chase after the _Archangel_. Athrun Zala was made commander—”

“Zala?”

She nodded. “The Chairman’s son.” Waltfeld sipped thoughtfully and waved for her to continue. “We chased it to Orb and snuck into the country when their official statement proved to be some bogus piece of crap.”

“Snuck into neutral territory?”

“It was only for recon purposes.”

“Ah, still, that was a rather gutsy move by your commander.”

Eclipse shrugged. “I had contacts and it was the proper course of action because the ship ended up being there. We cornered it as soon as it left Orb’s ‘protective custody.’”

The commander nodded, rubbing his chin as soon as he set his cup down. It surprised the redhead a bit to see how little he had known about their exploits. For some reason, she had thought him better informed than that. “How’d it feel to go home again?” he asked after a long moment.

She paused at that, trying to remember back when just worrying about seeing her parents was the only thing on her mind. It seemed so juvenile now. “Don’t really remember, actually. It feels like that was an entire lifetime ago.”

“I take it you lost your comrades _after_ Orb?”

“Well, I had already lost a few before that,” she gestured to him and he gave a sad shrug. “But, yeah, lost a couple more after that.”

Nodding, she offered a weak smile. “It really changes you,” Waltfeld continued. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that. And so young.”

“We’re in a war,” DaCosta added. “Unfortunately, it’s impossible to avoid.” They all went silent after that, giving Eclipse a moment for herself. The two older men remembered each comrade that had lost, not least of all the gem of a woman in the photo frame behind them. It wasn’t easy.

“Anyway, to make a long story short,” she continued with a sad laugh, trying to lighten the mood again. Her façade didn’t fool them though. “My SIN-ED friends are up here somewhere, and I’m supposed to ‘seek and destroy.’” She forced out a chuckle at the cliché. It was quite interesting to hear her predicament in words. It sounded so ridiculous. Heh, ever since she thought Athrun was dead, she couldn’t help but think, was it really worth it?

DaCosta looked confused when she mentioned SIN-ED, but Waltfeld nodded. “Any leads on where they are?”

Eclipse shrugged. “Intelligence hasn’t seen anything suspicious and my ‘old friend’ wasn’t exactly gracious with information.” Sighing, she crossed her legs and leaned forward, resting an elbow on her knee. “I’m not really in the mood to avidly search for them either.”

DaCosta blinked and Waltfeld started laughing at that. “What, the soldier who always follows commands is skimping out on duties?” Eclipse shrugged again and took a drink while the commander saluted her with his mug. “Glad to hear it.”

“So, tell me, what has the Desert Tiger been up to?”

“Missing the desert,” he muttered. Shifting forward in his seat, he took another swig before standing to get some more coffee. He instantly went to his cane, making Eclipse frown when she remembered his injuries. She was sure he would never call himself crippled, but the sight still made her sigh. “We’re working on something right now, actually,” he said after he sat back down. “If you’re interested, I can fill you in.”

“Give me a hint and I might be.”

“Hijacking a warship and gettin’ out of the army.” Both DaCosta and Eclipse spit out their coffee at the nonchalant way he said it, sending the redhead into a coughing spree and DaCosta into a string of questions—well, more like shouting at his superior.

“What the hell was that? Don’t you know the meaning of tact?”

"Tact?” Waltfeld asked calmly.

“Y’know, telling her gradually so she doesn’t pass out from insanity overdose?”

“You think this is insane now? You’ve been all for it for the past two months so—”

“That’s not what I meant!”

Eclipse barely heard the bickering, thinking over the proposition seriously despite his lack of tact. She could get out? Sure, it was an idea flittering in the back of her mind, but the only time she had thought about it was with FS and Stray. It seemed so—like DaCosta said—insane. But to _leave_. And with Waltfeld. There’d be no SIN-ED to chase—wait. Finally, she sighed. “What about SIN-ED?”

“What about them?” Waltfeld asked. “Technically, they’re ZAFT’s problem, not yours.”

“No, they _are_ my problem. I know too much about all of this to just let them do whatever they want.”

“Eclipse, you don’t have to be some hero.”

“Hero? No, a hero would be someone trying to end the war entirely. I’m being selfish; I just want to stop my friends.”

“Hah, selfish,” DaCosta muttered, falling back into the sofa. “ _That’s_ what you’re calling masochism?”

Eclipse smiled weakly. “I like to call it dedication.” They all released small chuckles after that one, but it died out quickly and put them in silence once more. Taking another drink, Eclipse continued. “And I can’t just abandon my team.”

“Your team? It sounded like you were all getting sent to different divisions.”

The redhead paused at the commander’s comment, surprising herself with how easily the term flew from her lips. The Zala team was disbanded then, wasn’t it? She was just living in some sense of denial it seemed… Nicol, Dearka—they were both gone and Athrun was now with a special unit of pilots. She swallowed. Yzak was to lead a team for Operation SpitBreak and she—technically—was supposed to be hunting SIN-ED. “You’re right, we’re not…” she trailed off, feeling foolish now. So, what _was_ keeping her there? Heine? Most likely, she would never be put on his team—or Waltfeld’s for that matter if they were attached to the _Eternal_ —and Lathan was an idol in his own right, so being within eyeshot of them was out of the question. No, she’d probably be put on Special Ops missions one after another until she was either killed or the war ended. Given the state of things, she figured she would die before then.

“You don’t have to give us an answer now, y’know. I just hate seeing you used like this.” Waltfeld’s face was serious. Vaguely, Eclipse remembered FS saying much the same thing a long time ago, but she never saw it as anything other than concern. She blinked. She never thought she was being used. Didn’t every soldier have to follow orders? Wasn’t that what she was doing, following orders? How was that being used?

Was there something she didn’t know about?

“How am I being used?”

Setting his cup down on the table, the commander scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know what—Athrun, right?—was told, but we were supposed to basically put you in an enhanced suit and let you loose on the enemy. Why do you think they sent all those ZuOOts when we—clearly—only used BuCUEs?”

Vaguely, she remembered the shipment of the oversized mobile suits. Primarily, they were used to destroy anything big, but for a team who usually relied on speed, they were useless. Looking back at it now, she swallowed. “Those were for me?”

“Well, not _all_ of them—don’t get greedy—but at least two.”

“Two?”

“One to use, one to strip.”

Eclipse shook her head in awe. So, they had wanted her to use her advanced knowledge of mechanics as well as her fighting abilities. “What, do they think I’m more than human or something?”

“The ‘or something,’ I think. Being a Berserker makes you rather popular, apparently.”

“But not invincible,” DaCosta grumbled, unusually silent throughout the whole conversation. “They make her sound like she can destroy the entire Earth Alliance by herself. I mean, look at the firepower they put on the Stealth!”

Eclipse was finding she knew nothing about any of this. Hell, she didn’t even bother trying to figure it out. She had never cared.

Waltfeld studied her face carefully. “You, honestly, don’t know how powerful you _could_ be, do you? Well—at any rate, ZAFT believes the tale and they were trying to get me to go along, but—I’ll admit—as soon as I saw how attached Aisha had gotten to you, I didn’t dare follow those orders.” He shifted a bit at the mention of his lover, but nothing more. It would take a while, but he was moving along in the right direction. “Like I said, I don’t know how much they told Athrun, but you were supposed to be my trump card.”

“Yeah, and we all know how that turned out,” Eclipse mumbled.

“You better not be blaming yourself,” the commander scolded. “That Strike pilot—though not a Berserker—was good.”

“He’s dead.”

“Huh?”

“That pilot’s dead.”

“Y-you’re kidding!” DaCosta stuttered, putting down the mug before he spilled it. Waltfeld just waited for her to explain. 

“In our last battle, Athrun self-destructed his suit on the Strike. Athrun ejected in time, but there was almost no chance the boy could come out alive.”

“ _Almost_ no chance?” DaCosta asked. 

“Well, _he’s_ still alive,” she said, pointing at the commander. “I feel as if graves aren’t as deep as they used to be if he could climb out safely. But this was the battle after he killed Nicol—a teammate, so, we were all pretty pissed, Athrun included. It’d be a miracle if that pilot survived.”

“Anger’s not the best emotion to go into battle with,” DaCosta remarked. “It can make you do stupid things.”

“I think battles in and of themselves are stupid,” Waltfeld muttered. “I can’t wait until this damn war is over with.” DaCosta quickly agreed, but Eclipse was still hesitant. 

What would her world be like without this war?

* * *

Eclipse almost didn’t leave. 

After all the seriousness and catching up was off the agenda, Waltfeld started giving her all sorts of coffee combinations he had come up with within the past few months. Most tasted pretty good, but some of them were—well—inedible, to say the least. DaCosta couldn’t stop laughing after he had seen the redhead spit a gulp of coffee back into the cup when the commander wasn’t looking. It was some kind of outrageous blend, mixing two of the strongest beans he had together and then handing it over to her black so she could “taste _real_ coffee.” Eclipse had tasted coffee before and that was more like a mixture of burnt coals and hand sanitizer with a hint of glue thrown in for substance. What made matters worse, was when the commander chugged his whole cup right in front of her and then proceeded to mock her for her lack of a “coffee tongue.” That had erupted into a bickering match even DaCosta refused to stop. He was having too much fun anyway.

“What about that one?”

“For goodness sakes, can we stop with the coffee?” Eclipse asked, looking around for a clock. “I was supposed to report to someone and—despite what you may think—I really don’t want to get into trouble.”

“Huh? I was under the impression you had some free time.” Waltfeld blinked, taking another sip of his coffee to hide his smile.

“Liar,” she countered, seeing through his innocent look. “You just enjoy using me as a guinea pig.”

He shrugged. “Trust me, my experiments are far less dangerous than some. So, who are you supposed to report to?”

“Someone named Gilbert Durandal.” Setting her mug down next to DaCosta’s on the table, she stood.

“Hm, never heard of him.”

“Me neither,” she admitted, heading towards the door. “But he’s somewhere in Sector 2-C.”

“The Medical District?” the commander wondered, glancing over at DaCosta. The greencoat just shrugged. “Let DaCosta take you. Not only would you get lost in this place, but I’d feel better if he was with you.”

“I don’t need an escort.”

“Just humor me,” he responded, getting to his feet and reaching across to wrap her into a one-armed hug. “And if you do anything rash, I’ll make you drink that special blend again.”

“Y’know, that might’ve been the scariest threat I’d ever heard you give.” 

He just forced a smiled and waved as DaCosta shut the door behind them. Walking back to the computer room, he sat down in the chair and typed in his password, along with his military information. _Let’s see who this Gilbert Durandal is_.

* * *

DaCosta pulled up to the curb, putting the car in park and before he could stop the engine, Eclipse put her hand on his. “I can walk myself in from here. Thanks for showing me the way, though.”

The greencoat shook his head. “I’m not letting you just go in there yourself. I’ll make sure you get to this Durandal and then I’ll leave.”

“Who are you, my dad?” She laughed and shook her head. “I’m at a hospital, how dangerous can it be?”

DaCosta just sighed, knowing no matter what he could say, Eclipse was going to blindly walk into that building. Sure, she was ordered there, but remembering back to that creepy doctor in Banadiya, he couldn’t help being nervous. Also, what was a skilled pilot like Eclipse doing being assigned to a medical facility? Especially with Operation SpitBreak so close?

“Here.” Pulling out a pen from his shirt pocket, he reached over and grabbed her wrist, writing a number down on the back of her hand. “That’s the phone number to the apartment. _Please_ give us a call if _anything_ happens. Understand?”

“Roger that,” she replied, even offering a mock salute before stepping out of the car. She waved him off and turned around to face the glass door entrance. _Let’s see what my new orders are._ Glancing down at the number on her hand, she smiled. Sometimes they were so overprotective. But looking up, she met the eyes of a doctor walking by. His grin was soft, but the way he composed himself made her nervous. He was very fidgety. Gulping, she looked back at the number and attempted to memorize it, suddenly feeling very uneasy.

* * *

“So, you’re the famous Commander Rau Le Creuset,” FS purred, leaning back in his seat and crossing his left leg over his right. Leaning to one side, he held out a hand and shook the commander’s firmly. “Honestly, I was surprised to see a message from you.”

Le Creuset smiled and sat down in the offered seat, crossing his legs as well and leaning back comfortably. “I’ve heard a lot about your most recent exploits thanks to my soldier’s reports, and I must say, you guys have surpassed my expectations.”

“Expectations?” FS asked, waving Melanie away after she set the tea down on the table between them. The girl looked angry, but did as she was told. After all, she was already in a whole lot of trouble because of the movie theater incident back on Earth and didn’t want to make her punishments worse. 

FS didn’t like that she knew more about the weaknesses of SIN-ED’s assassins than he did.

“Thank you,” Le Creuset muttered to Melanie before returning his attention back to FS. Phoebe put cups of cream and sugar down in the middle of the table, wincing slightly when she twisted her left wrist. Apparently, that fall did more damage than she had anticipated. It hadn’t been too long since their bout with Namarra—so the pain was expected—but they were both getting frustrated over it. They wanted a rematch and soon. Bowing, the two of them faked smiles and left the room. 

“I didn’t think you were powerful enough to be anything more than a flea on a dog,” Le Creuset continued, “but now I think I can appreciate your hard work.” FS didn’t reply, merely reached down to get his glass and take a sip, waiting for the commander to continue. “You see, I too hate this world, and would love to see everyone and everything in it, disappear.”

“That’s a very bold statement, _Commander_. And only a little bit insane, don’t you think?”

Le Creuset chuckled, a small outburst of air that did nothing more than mock the SIN-ED leader, but FS seemed more amused than offended. “Then you question your own sanity. After all, isn’t SIN-ED trying to reach the same goal?”

“To a certain degree. We plan on building a peaceful world once the armies are destroyed and not exactly bring the human race to extinction, like you’re suggesting. The world is such a big place and there are so many… pleasurable things around for me to want to destroy it all entirely. Besides, it’d get a bit lonely, don’t you think?”

“Lonely or no, everyone is the same; they’re all searching to jump that greatest obstacle, no matter how high or how many people it will hurt in the meantime. It’s quite pathetic actually.” He smiled once he finished, the remark sounding like a humorous statement of truth other than the sadistic threat it was supposed to be. How could he just sit there and speak about humanity as if he was better than it? 

“You sound pretty certain of yourself, and—to be honest—I don’t like your level of confidence. What gives you the right to look down upon everyone else?”

Le Creuset chuckled again. “I’m just like you, Revelin.” FS tensed at his name, but let him continue. “I am a byproduct of both this world’s intelligence and stupidity; their greed and honest pursuit of a better life. We were both used for selfish reasons and scarred because of it. Is there any other reason for us to look down upon everyone else?”

FS shrugged then, finding it a viable excuse. Sure, he had wanted to know how he was used in the past, but didn’t see the information as necessary. He had never asked his other subordinates why they had chosen to team up with him, just asked for complete loyalty. Well, he made sure they were loyal to him, hence the punishments he had to inflict on Melanie for knowing about that name to use against Namarra. While she had briefly explained the supposed affects to him—after all, the Natural didn’t seem too affected—if he had known that ahead of time, Namarra would have been dead. Worrying about Eclipse was enough of a headache without having to think about the other assassin.

“So, are we allies?”

FS looked back at Le Creuset, watching his face carefully. His mouth was still etched in a smile, but his eyes were hard to read. It didn’t help that the mask he wore put them in constant shadow, making it practically impossible to figure out what he was thinking. Should SIN-ED join with this man? Was he after the intel they had gathered? Or something else? They already had acquaintances with officers in the ZAFT military, so having Le Creuset wouldn’t mean they would be in any more danger than they already were. But what did he have to offer? What could he possibly do to help them out?

“What’s in it for us? You’re just one man on the brink of insanity.”

“We have technology and resources.”

“Technology we have also,” FS replied quickly, his pride momentarily wounded by his implication of their inferior intelligence. “We have a certain bit of intel that I think you might be interested in, if only to repair the reputation of the military you swear allegiance to.”

“I have heard about this intel, yes, and believe me, I find it a very tempting piece of bait. You underestimate my influence in ZAFT, I think. My reaches aren’t as deep as they seem, but with you, they might extend a bit.”

FS paused and looked at him again. He should have been unnerved that he could not read his expression then. Somehow, he had a feeling others were often scared around this man, but the subtle tug on his lips as smile tried to turn far more sinister revealed more to FS than any twitch of an eyelid. “Resources we may be able to use,” he said at last. “We have very talented people, but aren’t properly funded for,” he paused, looking for the right terminology, “our personal endeavors. Resources we might take for those services, but the intel has a steeper price.”

“What if I said I would offer you money to help fund your organization, and for your intel, I have something of more value to trade.”

“And what would that be?”

“What if I could offer you Lunar Eclipse? Or should I say, the _lack_ of Lunar Eclipse?”

That, he found interesting. “Go on.”

“Originally—as you have probably figured out—she was assigned to track down your organization and destroy it. I’m sure you know of her… special talents?” 

“More or less.”

“Well, we have a fair amount of data on her and figured the feat wasn’t too impossible. So, she has been trailing you for the past months and no doubt been a huge obstacle.”

“No doubt.”

“So,” Le Creuset continued, “what if I said she will no longer be a problem?”

“I’d call you a liar. She isn’t a beast too easily caged.”

“Ah, but she _is_ caged and I can make sure she stays that way.”

Now that was indeed interesting and FS smirked. Either Le Creuset was too confident in believing he could lock up Eclipse, or he was telling the truth. Despite his modest declaration before, he, no doubt, had further reach in the ZAFT military than he had admitted, and FS hesitated to call him a complete fool. No matter how much he questioned his claim about Eclipse, Le Creuset had the potential to be a powerful ally and if his boasts just ended up being words in the end, FS would enjoy disposing of him.

They shook hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the newest chapter! Despite my claim to be editing these faster, I seem to have taken a while getting this one out. I do apologize. I got sucked into writing for my second book and had to get back in the mindset of Waltz. 
> 
> Well, this is one of my favorite chapters, though I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately... Perhaps I liked more of my chapters than I had remembered. XD Man, I missed Waltfeld... Anyway, this is also a turning point because the next chapter dives into some pretty serious shit for our dear protagonist... We'll have to see if she comes out unscathed.
> 
> Nice to see where the camaraderie ended up with the Zala team, and it's sad to see them split up. Athrun was heading to higher places and Yzak too, to be fair. Eclipse is headed to other places, we shall say, and with SIN-ED now on speaking terms with Le Creuset, things are bound to get interesting.
> 
> Thanks again for popping in to have a read. I'll see you all in the next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	38. The Dumb Luck of No Longer Existing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse is now under the tender-loving care of her new commander, Gilbert Durandal.

** The Dumb Luck of No Longer Existing **

Cale Drudger looked at the computer screen again and sighed, watching the heartbeats go sporadically out of control and her brainwaves stay relatively calm, only going flat line every once in a great while and for a couple of seconds at a time. This was the third time that morning they had injected the drug into her body, but to no positive results. If the Berserker had come out, the sensors didn’t show it and her actions shifted her more into the complete insane column than the calm and terrifying. 

It all seemed off. At Banadiya, Lunar Eclipse was wild but it was a tame kind of ferocity. She had nearly taken out the Strike with a mere BuCUE and—or so he heard—rewrote a simulation program in seconds, while she was still in the system. But now, watching her body strain against the straps on her bed as her skull beat the pillow and headboard, Drudger could only cringe and wonder what the hell had gone wrong. He had made that grand discovery of her brain waves—or lack there of—but now she was to total opposite of what he had become obsessed with.

“Judging by the screaming, there have been no improvements?” A new doctor entered the room, one Drudger was more intimidated by than Commander Le Creuset. While this man may not have been an expert in a mobile suit, his knowledge in genetics and particular interest in Eclipse was frightening in and of itself. He was only in his early thirties, making him young for being such a trusted colleague to the Supreme Council. Drudger didn’t know all the exact details, but he did know the doctor spoke regularly to Chairman Zala and also to Commander Le Creuset. With friends like those, that definitely made him a frightening man. 

“I’m sorry, Dr. Durandal. We’ve injected the same dosage on three different occasions during three different simulations and the outcomes are all the same. This.” Drudger pointed to the screen, watching the redhead pull loose an arm restraint and start clawing at the other one. Apparently, those weren’t a good idea either.

“I see.” Durandal didn’t seem frightened by the display, looking more thoughtful than anything. He was going through more calculations in his head, reviewing the heart and brain monitors as he thought up the next course of action. “How’s she doing mentally? When she’s not on the drug?” 

“For the most part we can see no signs of brain damage whether she be in Berserker mode or her Coordinator self. All her physical tests come back fine as well. So, she seems relatively fine despite these displays,” Drudger explained, rubbing his forehead thoughtfully. It was all a bit strange, actually. The drugs they were using were only in the developmental stage and she seemed to be pulling through unscathed. While the drugs were having devastating effects when they were active inside her body, as soon as they wore off, she was back to normal. That itself was frustrating because how were they supposed to figure out what they were doing wrong if there were no side effects?

But maybe that meant they were doing something right?

“She’s only been here two days, Dr. Drudger. While I’m happy to hear she is doing well, I want you to keep a close eye on her. So far, her heart seems alright, so I think we can up the dosage by 5ml for the next simulation.”

“Roger that.”

The drug started wearing down as the two doctors watched the screen, motioning for the nurses to go in and peel off what was left of the shredded restraints. They were hesitant at first, waiting for Eclipse’s breathing to slow before venturing into the room. Four surrounded the bed, each one taking an appendage while one put two palms on her forehead to hold her down. Gulping, the nurse near her head looked down at the redhead’s face, watching her pupiless eyes fade away behind her eyelids.

* * *

_How long have I been here?_ Eclipse asked herself, curling up on her bed to stare at the white wall. The heart monitor beeped monotonously behind her, the pillow over her head failing to drown out the sadistic reminder of where she was. Looking down, she rubbed the back of her hand against her cheek, wishing Commander Waltfeld’s number wasn’t stripped off the moment she had arrived. 

So naïve.

She had never understood the worried look on DaCosta’s face until she was ushered down the stairs to a lab filled with unusual machines and chemistry sets, their contents ready to pump her body with drugs she never thought existed. She had never even seen her “commanding officer” before there was a needle being pushed into her upper arm and sensors stuck to her forehead. She recognized one man, the doctor from Banadiya, but the other people were unfamiliar. At least in their physical appearances. The glimmer in their eye Eclipse had seen a number of times on Januarias 4 and even in Dr. Drudger’s eyes.

Eager curiosity.

Obviously, she struggled, but they were ready for her, having doctors skilled in hand-to-hand combat, leather straps to keep her pinned, and even a trigger-happy nurse who—luckily—had bad aim. There was a graze on Eclipse’s left shoulder and a bullet in a cart of blankets thanks to her efforts. Somehow, they must have known anesthesia wouldn’t have worked on her because they went straight to a test drug, or at least something of the sort. Eclipse had never experienced anything quite like it. It was as if her mind broke, there was no other way to describe it. Her vision had literally cracked and shifted in fragments—a nurse’s arm moving one way, a chemistry set the other—before finally burning to a bloody brown. She came around a while later, dizzy and unable to move thanks to the leather straps around her neck and one around each appendage. Scary thing was, she hadn’t remembered them being put on.

The beeping sound sped up as an alarm went off near the door. It was time for another dose, but of what? Eclipse had no idea, only that whatever they were pumping into her body spurred her into brief moments of ferocious fits. After the first five or six times of these tests, she had come to realize her body did things while she was unconscious. She remembered that being mentioned back on Earth, but never thought of the consequences until she found her mattress torn to shreds and the unpleasant feeling of dry fabric inside her mouth. 

She was turning into an animal and had no way to stop them.

What the hell were they doing?

* * *

“Any changes?” Durandal asked, stepping up behind Drudger and placing a hand on the back of his chair as he leaned forward to look at the monitors. It had been another two days, but still nothing was improving. Durandal had hoped when he came in that morning there was going to be some kind of difference, but even before he had asked, he had seen Eclipse inside her room.

“None,” Drudger responded, involuntarily cringing when he saw the redhead shove an elbow into the heart machine. They needed to find better restraints. “She still throws these fits. After what happened in Banadiya I really shouldn’t be too surprised, but when she’s given some kind of objective, she seems to be stable enough.” He shrugged. _The problem was, finding an objective strenuous enough to bring out the Berserker_ , he thought. Honestly, he was running out of ideas.

“I can’t quite figure it out either,” Durandal admitted. “We’ve tried different amounts of doses.”

“We’ve never decided on whether or not to up the dosage further, sir. It’s still a possi—”

“Her heart rate is already at too high of a level,” Durandal stated, standing up straighter and massaging his forehead. He never thought it would take so long to replicate that drug she had been given on Januarias 4. There was no paper trail left behind when the facility was destroyed and—as expected—no one jumped up to take credit for giving Vindur the drug in the first place. Durandal had already spoken to Le Creuset, but he didn’t remember much about it either. “I think we need to activate the gene directly, or at least have the chemicals prod more into her brain. Right now, they’re attacking her heart and if this keeps up, we’ll lose her before any progress is made.”

“So, what do you suggest?”

Durandal sighed, staring at the screen and watching Eclipse pound her fists against the wall, shouting something incoherent. Where had he gone wrong? Could he not induce the Berserker like he had originally thought? Was it just some psychological game the redhead played with her other half? If that was the case, why hadn’t the true Berserker come out yet? Why was Eclipse being reduced to this inhumane beast instead of the calm, warmongering soldier she was supposed to become? 

“Sir?” Drudger prodded, knowing Eclipse was going to seriously hurt herself if something wasn’t done soon.

“Get people in there to strap her down for now and stop issuing the drug. As soon as she’s calmer, I’ll put her back through the simulators and agility tests. Maybe we’ll learn a bit more when she’s put into a battle situation.”

“Roger that.”

Sighing, Durandal left the room as Eclipse started her screaming once more, clawing at the medics trying to pin her to the floor. It always looked terrible as the drugs took hold, but her brain never showed signs of damage afterwards—as if her fits had never happened. That meant it was okay for them to do test after test, but they had made absolutely no progress. The redhead was still merely a skilled elite and no matter how many times they forced the Berserker out, their stats could never equal the data they had obtained from her past battles. And to make matters worse, they had failed in copying the Berserker gene as well. It always dissolved as soon as it was detached and even if they tried combining her blood with other blood samples, the gene would simply waste away. What link were they missing? If that gene held the potential of saving Coordinators from extinction, there _had_ to be a way to copy it.

Walking down the hall, he turned to the left and opened his office door, plopping down in his chair as soon as he flicked the lock. He had to report in to Chairman Zala soon, but he had no new information to give. 

The only positive thing he could say was that the test subject was still alive.

* * *

“I want her _out_!”

Eclipse tried to open her eyes but failed, not having the strength to see what was going on. It sounded as if some people were arguing, but it sounded so far away, like it was coming in through an intercom rather than inside the room. Given what had been happening recently, it didn’t seem impossible. She felt so detached from everything, even herself, so how could someone actually find her?

“You can’t just come barging in here—”

“Where’s this _Gilbert Durandal_ , I want to see him _now_! You have no authority—”

“Trust me, sir. We have permission from the Council itself. Now, if you’ll just sit down—”

“I will not! You get her out of there! I’m taking over as her commanding officer!”

“I have had no such orders and until further notice, this girl is permanently assigned here.”

“Bullshit!” 

“Commander!”

There was some shuffling and the sound of broken glass before someone decided to speak up again. Vaguely, she was beginning to recognize the voice. _Commander Waltfeld?_

“Control yourself, sir! We are a scientific facility only _ever_ thinking of us Coordinators. This girl could be the key to—”

“I don’t give a damn if she’s the only one who can pull that sword out from your ass! She’s not staying here a moment longer!” 

“Is there a problem here?” It was a new voice, one Eclipse didn’t recognize. It was soft, kind, but had a dictating edge so terrifying the redhead felt herself getting nervous. That must have been him—the one keeping her there.

_Gilbert Durandal._

“Yes, there is. She is _not_ some lab rat and you, sir, are breaking so many rules.”

“Breaking rules, you say? I assure you, we have authorization—”

“Who’s? The Council’s? Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but what about _hers_?”

“Hers? Why would I require her permission? She was a soldier transferred to my care.”

“ _Was_ a soldier?”

“Exactly. You see, she can’t be assigned to your team.”

“Durandal—so help me—if you—”

The intercom cut off then, leaving the rest of the conversation to Eclipse’s imagination. Something was wrong. That was Commander Waltfeld, but why was he so upset? What was going on? Where was she? Why couldn’t she open her eyes? Why couldn’t she move? 

And why was the Berserker laughing hysterically in the back of her mind?

* * *

_I really don’t want to move,_ Eclipse groaned, straining as she lifted her hand up over her head. Blinking, she tried to focus on it, slowly wiggling her fingers to help her sluggish brain. For the most part, it did nothing. She only managed to tune in a little bit, her hand instantly cramping and shooting pain down her forearm to her shoulder. She bit her tongue; it was the only thing she could do. All of the chaotic fits she had been throwing must been a strain on her body, bringing out the old injuries with an intensity brimming on obsessive masochism. It was as if the injuries wanted to retaliate, laughing at her as she squirmed in her bed. Grimacing, she tried to drown it out, having the sudden urge to start banging her head against the wall when the Berserker started laughing. What the hell was so funny? Technically, that side of her shouldn’t have had any ill feelings. After all, the Berserker—no matter how inadvertently—was one of the reasons Athrun decided to self-destruct. _If I wouldn’t have given in_ — She sighed. Now she was in a huge mess, had bruises on each finger, a reopened gash on her leg—she just felt the blood run down her calf—and nothing to blame but her own naivety.

The medical machine beeped off to her left, quickening her heart rate and breath automatically. She never knew when the next drug dosage would start, only that she would be strapped to the bed when her consciousness came back. 

Along with brief images of what had happened.

“Damn it! Quick, stop the machine and tie the restraints. Let’s wheel her to the simulator before she gets too crazy.”

Eclipse wasn’t sure who was talking—the voice sounded male—but two nurses ran to her side after the order, one shutting off the machine as the other strapped her feet to the bed. In fact, Eclipse barely noticed them, her eyes clouding over as a maniacal cackle tore through her lips. It started out light, tickling her vocal cords as the first bursts of air sounded. It actually sounded innocent, but when she inhaled and started again, her voice had dropped to a low alto, slowly rising in pitch as the chuckling grew louder. The nurses stared, horrified by the sound.

It was all so damn ridiculous. Those _doctors_ thought they could control her; force the most impulsive emotion a soldier could possess and expect to stand there safely behind computer screens? The Berserker laughed again, thrashing on the bed more to fuel her hysteria than to escape her confinement. Those doctors honestly thought they could copy—no, _understand_ her insanity? Stupid. Foolish.

Cocky.

Give her a gun, give her a target and she would gladly do something rational. Not those damn simulations or pitiful drug doses. They were trying too hard; failing to see the bigger picture. The Berserker couldn’t be tamed, caged, and especially not manipulated.

“How long?” she laughed, her last cackle gurgling from her throat. Sticking out her tongue, she passed it over her lips, circling around to lick her teeth and make a loud _click_. Everyone jumped. She laughed again. “How long until you all give up?”

The nurses gulped and turned to one nurse in particular, presumably their superior, but he seemed just as scared. Quivering, he was going to issue a command when she spoke again in a deep whisper.

“How long ‘til I get to kill you?”

* * *

“Please tell me there’s some good news this morning?” Durandal asked, walking into the monitoring room around noon. Covering up a yawn, he unprofessionally stretched his arms, hoisting the medical file up over his head. 

Drudger found it all interesting. It seemed he wasn’t the only one being affected by the project. Perhaps Durandal had had a few sleepless nights as well. It had been almost two weeks since Eclipse had been transferred to his care and still nothing substantial had been gained. Commander Waltfeld’s outburst had set him back a couple of days, his complaints sending in some military officials to investigate. For the most part, they were on Durandal’s side—thanks to Chairman Zala’s interference—but they had taken almost three days to go through all the material, forcing him to shut down the project for that time. Originally, Eclipse was going to be sedated and put into another room so she didn’t cause any “trouble,” but that idea didn’t last long when the investigators were required to check her out as well. She was no longer part of the military, but since Waltfeld had insisted on making sure she was alright, the doctors had no other choice. So, she was left conscious and very curious about what the hell was going on.

Needless to say, it had made Drudger rather nervous.

If she was just left there to try and figure out what was going on, she would probably try to get away and based on all the data he had about her, she could succeed. Eclipse was able to activate the Berserker gene at will, but Drudger wasn’t able to even get it thinking about reacting. It didn’t seem fair. So, he was left there, throwing his life into that project just to be disappointed day after day and as soon as they were making _some_ kind of progress—the Berserker had come out after a dosage was stopped halfway—those investigators had come in to reverse any kind of leeway they might have gained.

“Doctor, did you hear me?” Durandal asked, tapping him on the shoulder when he didn’t respond. “How’s she doing?”

Drudger blinked and swiveled in his chair. He was surprised about how much the older doctor _didn’t_ intimidate him that morning. Usually, Durandal made him uneasy, but, being so exhausted, the younger man didn’t even seem fazed. So much for survival instincts. He needed a vacation. “Still nothing, sir. We’ve tried to reenact what happened the other day, but either we’re stopping the dosage too early or too late.”

Durandal sighed and pulled out the chair next to Drudger. Sitting down, he leaned back and crossed his right leg over his left, leaning to one side and staring at the folder in his hand. “I think in order to create the same scenario, _she_ has to be in the same state of mind. Whatever she was thinking about triggered the Berserker and the drugs only enforced it.” He sighed, knowing his evaluation was probably right and, if that was the case, they would never be able to have the same outcome. 

“There might be some good news though, sir.”

“And what’s that?”

“Our engineers have been working on the new simulator you suggested. Instead of merely sending the pilot’s mind into the simulation, this version will make the pilot’s body work as well. The monitors will be connected to a kind of headset, still sending the images directly to the brain, but the subject can move about freely as well.”

“Were they able to copy the same system Eclipse managed in Banadiya?”

“Not totally. We’re not entirely sure what she did to the original system, but she was able to disconnect from her BuCUE and take apart her opponent’s machine, this you know. The impressive thing about that as well was how the BuCUE in the system was affected by what was happening to the unit outside. I was always under the impression that when a simulator was attached to a machine, the computer was doing all the work and the rest of the mobile suit didn’t matter.”

Durandal nodded thoughtfully, bringing a hand up to his chin and rubbing a finger across his bottom lip. He had heard about that event, but had never paid much attention to it until recently. Before, it just seemed to be proof of how well the Berserker could adapt to its surroundings, taking any kind of situation and turning it in its favor, but since nothing else was working, it looked more like a beacon than just a statistic. “So, you think this new version, even if it’s not the same as the one she came up with in Banadiya, will help our experiments?”

“Well,” Drudger began, shifting in his chair to sit up straighter as his ego rose. “As we noticed, the Berserker’s body is as involved in the ‘transforming’ process as much as the mind. Everything from strength to food digestion is heightened and I think the old simulation loses that effect. If we can get her more physically involved, we might have more success. Given, it’s not _exactly_ the same as the one in the desert, but it’s close enough that we can afford a bit of hope.”

Durandal nodded again. He had been too ambitious to think they would be able to copy her adjustments completely, but all they needed was some kind of tease; something to taunt the Berserker enough to bring it out and into the open. Then things could move forward. 

Their research could officially begin.

* * *

_Whatever had happened a couple of days—was it days?—ago must not have done anything, because I’m still here,_ Eclipse thought, rubbing her forehead between her fingers. Her other hand absently picked at the cotton in her ear, wondering if the bleeding had stopped yet. She had forgotten about the Stealth when she was whisked away to become a lab rat, but almost right after Commander Waltfeld had talked to Durandal, the earpiece started buzzing, messing up the sensors on her forehead and not making her captors too happy. The doctors had found the device and had promptly torn it out. The pain from that was so profound and the wound so ugly—or at least she figured based on their reactions—she didn’t think she would be able to hear again out of her right ear. With the cotton in there already, noises were muffled, but there was a constant ringing. Nothing loud and obnoxious, but just knowing it was there brought some tears to her eyes.

What the hell was going on?

She had thought she would have received some kind of information—or caught onto something—by now, but she was just as clueless as she had been when she walked through the door. And perhaps even more so. At one time she was coherent, but what had happened seemed more and more like she was looking through a steamy car window. Now, she never knew what time it was and even guessing at the date seemed like more work than it was worth. Another thing she noticed was how many new faces she saw each day. Or were they new? Slowly, she was forgetting things and tried every spare moment to run her important memories through her mind; who she was, who her friends were. The first thing she forgot was where she was and that morning was not a pleasant one. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so panicked, but as she calmed down, bits and pieces of things came back to her. Nothing substantial, but enough to let her keep some kind of sanity. The second thing she forgot?

The man who had caged her there.

It seemed like such an important name, she couldn’t believe she had forgotten it. So many times she had heard his voice through the intercom, but she just couldn’t remember anything. Convenient? Obviously, because if she ever got out of there, she wouldn’t be able to give any helpful information. Often, she thought that was done on purpose, as if someone was digging through her brain and picking out anything important. Given the circumstances, it was possible. 

“So, are we supposed to start a dosage and then wheel her away? Or just take her straight to the simulation room?”

“I think we’re just taking her there,” was the reply, Eclipse so disorientated she could barely tell if they were male or female. They sounded so alike. “She looks to be out of it.”

“Yeah, like that means anything anymore. Did you see those bite marks on Marley’s forearms? And her fingers? She usually keeps them bandaged, but you should ask to look at them. They’re hideous.”

“What’s the point of all of this anyway? When I signed up for this internship, this was _not_ what I expected. I didn’t think working on a genetic reject was on my list of preferred duties.”

Eclipse stopped paying attention, not appreciating them ranting about their bad luck when she was the one being psychologically dissected. Call her selfish, but would it hurt for anyone to feel in the least bit sorry for her? _Genetic reject,_ she thought, feeling herself drop even further towards depression. In the end, she had figured it would be up to herself to get out, but she never wanted to believe it. However, there it was, the word spitting in her face and lingering there like some kind of freakish mask. How she wished Commander Waltfeld would come back.

At least that name she could remember.

The bed jerked suddenly as she thought, knocking her back to reality and the darkness of her closed eyelids. She was going to be put through more simulators. Grand. Not only had they produced no positive results, but the more often the Berserker was forced out of her subconscious, the more Eclipse could feel herself slipping away. Not towards death, per say, but towards an eternity of imprisonment. It was hard to explain and every time she thought about it, the Berserker would perk up and increase her doubt. The Berserker; it was rapidly becoming a part of her—no, separate from her. It was almost as if it could think on its own. Or worse, react on its own. There were no boundaries, no locked doors, no remorse.

Just pure impulse.

Sighing, she tried not to think about it, focus on something a bit happier, but that idea was dashed when a loud siren echoed down the hall. It was high-pitched and almost as deafening as the screech that tore through her eardrum when the earpiece was removed. It made her wince.

Wait, wince?

Eclipse gasped, realizing for the first time her body was able to move. The nurses must have taken their sweet time in transporting her because the drugs had already worn off and she wasn’t even close to the simulator room. Flexing her eyes, she squeezed them tight and then forced them open, blinking many times when a red light passed overhead. The nurses—both female with darker hair—were panicking next to her, trying to get someone on their radios. While they were shouting into their mikes, the emergency lights turned on, hazing the hallway in a yellow glow mixed with the eerie red lights circling in the upper corners. The dimness was good on her eyes, not causing the instant headache she was afraid of.

“What _is_ that alarm?” one of the nurses shouted. She ran over to the end of the bed, locking the front wheels, Eclipse figured.

“I dunno, and no one’s responding!” the other nurse responded. “I’m gonna run ahead and see if anyone in the simulation room—”

“You’re just gonna leave me here?”

“Relax, she’s strapped down and still unconscious…” Her words trailed off when she looked down at the medical bed and locked eyes with the redhead lying there. The last words were slow, the young girl uttering them one syllable at a time as if the sluggish pace would delay the nightmare before her. Her face paled and her blue eyes widened. Eclipse was actually impressed with how quickly her expression changed. Who knew someone could look _that_ sick within a matter of seconds? What was even more impressive was the look on the other nurse’s face.

And what came out of her mouth.

She screamed a high-pitched, glass-breaking screech that sent her tripping over the gurney’s wheels and headfirst into the wall. Her panic combined with the impact sent her into a blissful sleep. The nurse still staring at Eclipse seemed to have stopped breathing. The words, “holy fuckin’ shit,” most likely echoing in the back of her mind. Inwardly sighing, the redhead decided she should just stare, figuring her intense attention was doing enough psychiatric damage. Moving might have overdone it and talking was questionable. She didn’t trust any words that might tumble from her tongue anyway.

“Y-you’re awake?” It seemed like such a stupid thing to bring up while the red lights—and obvious sirens—were going off, but Eclipse couldn’t really blame her. After everything that had been happening recently, she would probably be scared of herself too. “Y-you’re awake.” Apparently, saying it twice made her feel better.

In response, the redhead shifted her eyes down to her restraints and pulled at them. The nurse gazed at them too and then back down the hallway towards the simulator room. It was a miracle no one had run out of there yet. Eclipse pulled harder and prayed no one did. The nurse took a step back and the redhead tried to sit up, a gurgling sound escaping her throat when the restraint started choking her. Damn, those were tight.

The nurse retreated again.

“Please,” Eclipse croaked. She _had_ to get out of there.

The nurse gulped.

“Please.”

She ran.

Eclipse could feel her fingers reaching out after her as her eyes got wide, tears brimming at the corners more because of frustration than actual sadness. Now what? She screamed, sending all of her disappointment and irritation into that single burst of air. No doubt someone would be by soon to lock her back into her room or at least evacuate her to a “safe area.” And that meant more drugs—more simulations. She yelled again.

Help; she needed help.

Biting her bottom lip, a panicked tear joined the frustrated ones at the base of her cheek. She knew what to do, but could she? Would she? 

There was just no other choice.

The Berserker laughed and took control.

* * *

Eclipse chose not to remember, severing the connection with her other half as soon as she felt her left thumb dislocate and her fingers slide through the restraint. The bonds had tighter than usual, causing some interesting scrapes on her hands. She could almost feel the skin sliding off her fingers. Waking up, she instinctively went to those wounds, wincing when she felt the extent of the damage. The skin was still on—thank goodness—but her fingernails were a bloody mess and the bruises were already forming near her knuckles. 

But she was outside the building.

…Somewhere.

She wasn’t about to ask how she had escaped so easily—perhaps it wasn’t easy at all—but the prospect of having freedom thanks to her Berserker half terrified her. Some things definitely had to change.

Taking a quick look around, she deduced she was in an ally, but how far she had wandered from the medical facility itself was a mystery. Whether or not that was a good thing was still under debate, but at least she was somewhat safe for the time being. Taking that as a good sign, she started her physical examination.

Her hand she had already looked at and—judging by the awkward angle—her thumb was still out of joint. Grabbing the front of her hospital gown, she slipped it between her teeth and bit down. Her right hand pinched the base of her thumb, grinding it back into place with a sickening crack. Withholding a whimper, she finished her injury check. 

Her right ankle was sore—perhaps she twisted it in the escape—and her throat throbbed both inside and out. The screaming might have been a reason for the inside problems, but the outside damage was—most likely—caused by the restraints. It would take a couple of days to heal completely, but the muscles were terribly stiff. That wasn’t good when she was supposed to be seeing every angle and not get caught again. Also, with such a weak body her chances of fleeing at a sprint had just plummeted to a hobble. How did she expect to run away if she could barely stand? And how had she gotten to her current location already? The Berserker laughed loudly in her mind and her breath quickened, shutting her eyes and shaking her head painfully to block out the images her other half threatened to display.

She didn’t want to know.

Her welcome back to her surrounds was not a pleasant one, the damage to her right ear causing her previous actions to make her far dizzier than she would have liked, her feet fumbling under her as she fell against the wall to her left. Her breath came out in rasps, her right ear plugged and the forcing the sounds to reverberate loudly in her head instead of merely through her teeth.

It wasn’t going to be easy.

Trying to get some lubrication to her dry throat, she gulped and looked back around the corner of her current hideout. The place was in an uproar, military personnel running back and forth through the cemented expanse to her right and more military vehicles driving through the open area to her left. She seemed to be near some hangars, but it was just a guess, she knew, her internal compass so far off kilter that she could have been back on Earth and not noticed even if she saw the moon in the sky.

She wasn’t startled by the overall panic, but she was surprised no one had spotted her yet. Wearing a hospital gown didn’t exactly make her invisible to the rest of society. In fact, it made her suspicious, but she must have been either shrouded in shadow very well, or she wasn’t a priority. A group of greencoats ran past and she ducked back behind the wall. She thought she heard one talking about seeing something in the alley, but they must have brushed off the idea since no one turned around to check down her way. Maybe her escape hadn’t made its way through the radio waves yet because she was sure there should have been just short of a company trying to chase after her. _What the hell is going on?_ she thought, risking another look when it all seemed clear. 

Greencoats were the primary uniform running around, shouting out orders to one another and trying to create some semblance of calm, but it wasn’t until some redcoats joined the others that things started to gain order. Eclipse cursed. If the panic subsided before she could get clear of the building, she would definitely get caught again. But where could she go? 

Turning around, she looked down towards the end of the alley. She had no idea where she was, but if these were military hangars, she could find a radio. If she could sneak into one, she might be able to get in contact with DaCosta or Waltfeld. And, perhaps best of all, there would most likely be enough vehicles to pick from. Maybe all of the chaos out here had drawn all the soldiers outside, leaving a hangar unguarded enough for her to slip inside. Hopefully. Taking another brief look at her condition, she decided to pray just a little bit louder.

* * *

Eclipse couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so tired, let alone so sore. She hadn’t taken 10 steps until her injured ankle decided to twist again and send her sidelong into the metal wall. The sound was so loud in her left ear that she tensed and cursed, her muscles screaming with her panicked response. A few more scratches were added to her repertoire after her collision and now she could barely walk. Usually, adrenaline took over by that point to drown out the pain, but the redhead didn’t even think she could produce anything of the sort. She was tired, gradually losing focus and wanted nothing more than to collapse on the ground and hope some soldier found her so that she could rest on a bed at least. Sure, she might be put back through those simulations, but—at that exact moment—she really didn’t care. Sleep—that was all she wanted.

Trudging forward, the end of the alleyway seemed to move farther and farther away. Her vision faltered, causing her to stumble a couple of times before she gave in and fell down altogether. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t even walk let alone attempt to take on any soldier and steal a military vehicle. Hell, she stood out so much she would probably be spotted as soon as she stepped out of the alley. She could try and conceal herself for a couple of hours, but cover was rather scarce. There were some dumpsters ready for the incinerator littering the area, but nothing that would hide her for longer than an hour. 

Sighing, she flopped down onto her side and curled up into a ball next to one of those dumpsters. It had been a while since she had felt so helpless and weak. The last time was when she had seen Nicol die, and even then she was more pissed than sad to totally immerse in the emotion. Staring at her bruised fingers and hearing her raspy breath coming from her chapped lips, she debated just staying there. It was one thing to think it, but it was another thing to give in altogether. No one would blame her; she couldn’t move. Actually, she was convinced that if she was picked up again and taken back to that medical facility, she would never come out again. Not a pleasant thought, but not even the threat of being caged there for the rest of her life was enough to get her back on her feet. _I could crawl,_ she thought, but then chuckled quietly. _Crawl. Hah, how pathetic._ Pausing, she rolled onto her back and started up at the lip of the dumpster. 

Such dumb luck.

Dangling outside was the arm of a doctor’s white coat. Compared to the side of the dumpster, the jacket looked bleached, but Eclipse knew better than to assume they had thrown away a perfectly good jacket. What she was more concerned with, however, was how easily she found it. Was her luck changing? Could she really have found something like this by chance and now be expected to get out alive? _Someone’s making fun of me,_ she thought, forcing strength through her arms to hoist her up. _This is too easy._ Reaching towards the cuff, she pulled, hearing a loud rip when the seam near the armpit tore open. Groaning, she fell back to the ground and stared at the dangling arm. She just didn’t have enough energy to stand and properly pull it out. Hell, even if she managed to get it out of the dumpster, what would she do? Wear it, obviously, but she had no shoes, bruises on her arms, legs, and face, not to mention her matted hair. Even if she was able to properly walk out of the alley—no matter how clean the coat could be—she wouldn’t get far. 

It was all looking so hopeless.

 _Ugh, Athrun would know what to do. Shit, even Yzak might have a good idea and definitely Heine—_ She stopped. Heine. The Freedom. 

He might be here. 

Rolling onto her side, she stared down the alleyway at a hanger door now visual up and to her left. Two redcoats with about ten greencoats ran across the alley opening in a group, the elites shouting various orders and pointing down the road. So many soldiers were around, and Heine _had_ to be one of them, right? If Commander Waltfeld was in charge of the ship built for the Freedom, Heine couldn’t be far away. Heine would help her; he’d always been there for her.

But could her dumb luck hold out that long?

“The Freedom’s been what?” a soldier squealed nearby from the alley opening, but Eclipse didn’t have time to listen in on the conversation as her adrenaline did, in fact, kick in. If they were talking about the Freedom, Heine was around. There was no way he wouldn’t be. 

Groaning, she hoisted herself up to her knees and stopped, catching her breath. She had no idea how long she had even been scrounging around back there, but the fact that she had been for even a small amount of time either proved the panicked state the area was in, or how unprofessional the security was being in checking the alley. Either way, she was grateful for the extra time and when she finally pulled herself to her feet, she was also thankful for the amount of noise. A sharp gasp of pain wasn’t about to be heard over all the sirens and shouting. 

Lifting up the dumpster hatch, she freed the jacket and threw it on over her medical gown. There was a tear at the bottom to match the one she had made in the left armpit and a large hole in the breast pocket. Blood was splattered across the backside, but nothing so bad someone could have died in it. That was good because she really didn’t want to walk around with a huge red splotch on her back. She would get way too many questions if there was. Mud was splashed up onto the front and she didn’t smell too good, but if anyone asked her what happened, she could just say she slipped in the alley. Problem solved.

She hoped.

 _And now, to walk._ Taking a deep breath, she stood as straight as she could and started her trudge towards the hanger. 

One step. 

Two steps.

Pain.

Biting her bottom lip, she kept her mind focused and ignored her body. All she had to do was walk into the open, explain how she tripped, lost her ID amid all the chaos, and ask someone to take her either as far away from that place as possible or to Heine. Yeah, no problem. She smirked at that, realizing that whatever was going on would prevent her from leaving the complex altogether. Oh well, at least now she could say she tried.

She stumbled once more when she reached the end, collapsing onto the ground while trying to catch herself on the doorhandle leading into the hangar. If Eclipse would have been watching herself, she would have laughed, calling it all a rehearsed gag, but since she was the one in pain and not able to stand up anymore, she just cursed and breathed through her pain. If someone found her, she had her cover story. If no one saw her, she would try to get through the door and into the hangar. Either way, there was no way she could turn back.

“’Ey you!” a greencoat shouted, running over to help her up and determining her next course of action. He was a younger recruit with darker hair and brown eyes but didn’t seem as innocent as she had hoped. He might not buy her story. Putting two hands under her right arm, he hoisted her to her feet. “Are you alright? You look awful.”

“Th-thanks for noticing,” Eclipse stuttered, clearing her dry throat when her voice cracked and wrapping the coat tight over her gown. “I fell down in the alley and no one bothered to help me. I was yelling for about 20 minutes.”

“You were? Sorry about that, things have been rather hectic around here.” Smiling, he helped her to sit down on a slab of concrete next to the wall. “But, holy shit, you’re hurt. Are you sure you just fell?”

“What kind of a question is that?” the redhead asked, trying to sound offended. She didn’t like the quizzical looks him and his buddies were giving her. She especially didn’t like how they eyed the bruises around her neck or her bare feet. No doubt she looked as if she had been strangled recently, but what kind of excuse could she come up with?

The greencoat still looked suspicious, so Eclipse just sighed. “There was a lot of commotion inside the medical facility and I ran into some stuff, got tangled, lost my ID, and felt like beating the shit out of someone. Since no one was around—and I didn’t really want to lose my job—I came outside to see what all the ruckus was about, got ordered to help out somewhere around here and ended up getting lost.” She paused, wincing when she turned wrong and a sharp pain ran across her chest. Catching her breath, she forced out a smile. “What _is_ going on anyway?”

“Uh,” the greencoat began, looking behind him to make eye contact with the redcoat who had just arrived. Eclipse followed his eyes and caught her breath when she saw he had blond hair. However, she silently cursed when he turned out to be about four inches shorter than Heine and had a nose about as sharp as the pen he was absently clicking in his right hand. 

“What’s going on here?” the redcoat asked, brushing past the observers near them to stand in front of Eclipse. “And who is this?”

“Well—uh—” the greencoat stuttered.

“What, you find a girl looking like this and you instantly think she’s innocent? For goodness sakes, soldier, where’s your military common sense?”

“I’m sorry, sir—”

“Nevermind, just take the others and head to Hanger A33. There’s been a rumor the culprit has been spotted there.”

“Sir!” The greencoat saluted, gave Eclipse one last look and then waved to the others to follow. 

The redcoat waited until they were all gone before starting his interrogation once more. “What’s your name?”

 _Shit,_ the redhead thought, wishing she would have thought ahead just a bit more. Usually, she was on top of things like this, but at that moment, she couldn’t even remember a female nurse’s name at the facility. If this elite was really as to the rulebook as she expected him to be, he probably knew every person in that entire building and could tell if she was lying. Cursing again, she wished she would have said she was some kind of intern. Bringing that up now would have looked suspicious. “I’m Kari Crescent, an anesthesiologist at the medical center in Sector 2-C.”

The redcoat nodded, his face moving uncomfortably close to hers. “Anesthesiologist, huh? I know a few superior officers in that sector very well. Many are quite strict.” Eclipse just shrugged. What else could she do? Obviously, he was onto her, so the trick was to see if he could give away enough information before she had to answer. “Your dress codes are almost archaic. I’m surprised someone so sloppy is on his medical team.” He looked down at her feet and she subconsciously slipped one bare foot over the other.

She shrugged again. “I lost my shoes when I slipped and I’m good at what I do, there’s nothing else I can say. I’m not very liked personally, but I get the job done.”

“Hm, whatever was going on there must have been important.” He backed up then, bringing his left hand to his lip as he thought, but never letting go of the pen at his side. Eclipse was starting to get irritated. “That sector has been on edge—” _Click_. “—for a while now—” _Click, click_. “—and I never understood—” _Click, click, click_. “—what might be—” _Click_.

“Sir, can you _please_ stop that?” That remark he didn’t really care for. Perhaps it had something to do with the way she interrupted, but that clicking noise was combining with the already annoying ringing in her ear. It was like a symphony of mosquitoes trying to make some money on her annoyance level and enjoying the rollercoaster ride when it went up and down periodically. 

He glared at her then, suspicious once more. Sighing, she was about to make another comment to calm his nerves when he slipped a handgun from his belt. Flipping off the safety, he merely rested his finger near the trigger instead of on it. Who knew someone could get shot over a pen? “Sir, I—”

“We are on the lookout for any suspicious people.”

 _Aren’t you always on the lookout for suspicious people?_ She wanted to say it, but decided against it since her situation wasn’t the greatest.

“And you, my friend—”

_Friend?_

“—are suspicious.”

She nearly fell over laughing at the cliché, amused by the fact that he was pointing the pen and attempting to pose at the end. Maybe he just got too involved with his work, but no matter how she looked at it, Eclipse knew she was in a rough situation. “Get me Heine Westenfluss.”

“Excuse me?”

“Heine Westenfluss, he’s an elite pilot and should be around here somewhere. He’s actually supposed to be piloting the Free—”

He held up a hand, cutting her off. “ _I_ know who he is, but how do _you_ know who he is?”

“We’re—uh—dating.”

That perked his interest. “Dating, huh?” Internally cringing, she nodded. If it worked, she didn’t care how poorly her ego got bruised. “A pilot and an anesthesiologist?”

The redhead shrugged. “What can I say, he was lying on the bed injured, said a few romantic things, I knocked him out for surgery, and we’ve been in love ever since.” How she hoped Heine wouldn’t get wind of her saying any of this.

“You’re mocking me.”

“Sir, I’m just trying to explain the circumstances.”

“Here, let me get him on the radio to confirm.” Eclipse nodded, forcing a smile. While she was happy someone was finally getting in touch with Heine, she knew her fake name would only confuse him. It would have been the dumbest sense of luck if he _did_ have a girlfriend named Kari Crescent, or if he knew that was her alias back on Heliopolis. Since Heliopolis was never brought up and—as far as she knew—he didn’t have a girlfriend, calling Heine on the radio would probably do nothing. Sighing, she had no choice but to wait. She was still too weak to do any major damage to—wait.

“Heine Westenfluss, do you copy?”

That man was standing pretty close to her sitting position. Close enough, in fact, she could use whatever strength she had left to kick his knees back. Sure, the guy probably wouldn’t walk very well afterwards, but lucky him. He might be able to go back to a civilian life.

“I copy you loud and clear, Baymont, and it’s a good thing you called. We need back up.”

Eclipse heard herself gasp. That was Heine alright. So, he was around, good.

“I have a situation myself. Do you know a Kari Crescent?”

“Crescent?” Heine echoed, sounding a bit winded on the other end. The redhead was actually afraid to know what was going on.

“I’m at the hanger A15 and we found a suspicious female in a medical jacket. She looks about seventeen years old, red hair, and beaten up pretty badly. She says she an anesthesiologist at the medical facility nearby and your gir—”

 _Crunch_.

Gathering up her legs, she kicked both feet outward to hit Baymont directly in the right kneecap. His leg buckled backwards with a sickening series of cracks before his brain registered the pain and he fell down in a crumpled heap. He started screaming then and dropped both the gun and the radio, holding his leg with both hands.

 _Ouch._ Getting to her feet, she picked up the weapon and radio. “Baymont! Baymont! Damn it, what the _hell_ is going on over there?”

“Hey, Heine, it’s your favorite redhead,” she responded, stretching her legs before hobbling off to find a vehicle to hijack. “Just dispatch a team to pick him up and he should be able to walk after some rehab.”

“Redhead? Wait—what?”

“What day is it?”

"What? Why are you—”

“Heine, just answer the question.”

He hesitated, but ended up replying anyway. She was surprised he trusted her so easily. “It’s May the 5th. Now what the _hell_ is going on?”

 _Two weeks, huh?_ she thought, stopping for a second to catch her breath. She had just made it through the side door and safely inside the hanger, but now had to find some sort of moving vehicle. She had the feeling most of them were being used and—needless to say—she would be pissed if that was the case. After doing all of that work, crippling a fellow redcoat, and being so close to her own freedom she felt her luck should take a break and God should just give her a chance. Let her save what luck she had left and just have a jeep pop out of thin air in front of her. Yeah, that was a good idea.

“Crescent!”

“Keep it down, would ya?” She smirked, impressed he had picked up on the fact that she had used a fake name. “I’m not exactly in the best circumstances to be screaming at you through open airwaves.”

“Just give me some kind of explanation.”

“I’m gonna need some info as well. I’ve just had a hellish couple of weeks and just when I was strapped in and ready for my next drug dosage, the nurses run off and—”

“Woah—wait—what?”

“You wanted an explanation.” She stopped. Turning and ducking behind some crates when she heard footsteps echoing on the other side of the facility. There were quite a few storage crates between her and the steps, but the fact that someone else was in there made her curse. Why was someone in a dark hangar?

“Crescent!”

“Hush!” The footsteps slowed and eventually came to a stop after Heine spoke. Male voices sounded outside the hangar’s closed door back and to her right, saying something about hearing something and the redhead cursed again. Standing, she had no choice but to head to her left and towards the rear of the hangar. It was a risky move because there was neither a vehicle in sight nor an exit that she was aware of at that end of the building.

“Lexi, talk to me.” He used her real name. She knew he was serious even without him resorting to those drastic measures. 

“This isn’t a secure line, Heine. I can’t tell you everything.”

“Fine.” He sighed. “Just tell me this, are you the one we’re looking for?”

 _Of all the times to be vague,_ she thought, hobbling and collapsing behind another crate further back. Another door did catch her eye then, in the back corner of the hangar. There must have been one near where she had entered the alleyway before but in her previous state she had missed it. While she wasn’t happy to be right back to where she had started, it was at least a way out and away from the voices at the other end of the hangar.

“That depends,” she began, crawling onto her knees towards the door and finding shelter behind the last crate before her final dash to the handle. Leaning back against the wooded frame, she took a moment to catch her breath and do a weapon’s check. “Are you looking for a runaway lab rat?”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”

He was quiet for a little bit—digesting the information most likely. “No, we’re not.”

“Let me know if you start. I’m sure I’m suspicious no matter what, but I _don’t_ want to go back there. Where are you?” He never got a chance to answer. Footsteps sounded to her right and she dropped the radio. Using both hands, she pointed the gun at the person to her right who seemed to be aiming for the same door she was about the rush towards. Eclipse started to pull the trigger, but even in the dark she saw a strand of pink hair and the sleeve of a white dress just before she fired, startling her enough to avert the shot away from anything vital. The bullet grazed the person’s upper right arm, but she didn’t squeal. Actually, she didn’t do much of anything and neither did Eclipse. They just stared at each other, stunned, the echo of the shot reverberating off the metal interior. _L-Lacus Clyne?_

It took her a second but eventually the singer recognized Eclipse. Taking another moment to look at her clothing, Lacus blinked and then grinned. It was a small smile but still held the warmth the redhead had remembered from all those months ago.

“Miss Eclipse, such an interesting place to see you again.” Lifting her left arm, she waved a small radio and smiled. Either she had come across it and was accidentally listening in on the conversation between her and Heine, or that pink celebrity was more resourceful than Eclipse had ever imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all. New chapter. I've gotten quite distracted writing chapters for my second book in this series, so these have been coming out a bit slower than previously. The good part is, the editing isn't taking as long, but I'm finding less and less time to get to them. Sorry! I'll try to keep a better eye on the dates.
> 
> Lot of unfortunate things happening to our fair redhead in this chapter, but it looks like she's been able to come out the other end of it alive. Hopefully that luck holds... 
> 
> We get more of the wonderfully delightful Lacus Clyne again in the coming chapters, so I do hope you are all as excited as I am to post those chapters for you. After this rather dark chapter, Lacus is definitely a beacon of goodness. 
> 
> Thanks again for taking a moment out of your rather hectic lives to read this chapter. Please take care, everyone, and I will see you all in the next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	39. Two Opposite but Stubborn Females

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse is rescued by none other than the Pink Princess, and brought back safely into allied hands. The safety doesn't last for long, however, Lacus having the brilliant idea of trying to talk to Athrun... in a theater.

Two Opposite but Stubborn Females

Eclipse was impressed; she didn’t know who wouldn’t be. It was just the matter of Lacus relaying their location to her chauffeur and having him bring the limo to meet them past the door outside the hanger. What was even more impressive was how no one batted an eye when they went to get into the vehicle, as if—no matter what—Lacus was innocent. Then again, the redhead didn’t know what the singer was even doing sneaking around in the dark hanger—it seemed a bit unprofessional for Waltfeld to send the songstress—so she couldn’t say she was or she wasn’t.

“Crescent—Lexi—or any form of your damn name—get the fuck—”

“Heine, sorry, I forgot you were still there.” Eclipse had been in such a daze she had tuned out the other fair singer on the end of her radio. She assumed he was a lot angrier than he was letting on, but he also sounded really busy, trying to relay commands to the others around him. Based on those commands, whoever they were looking for had either been found or more backup had arrived and their search was expanding.

“We need to get out of here,” Eclipse mouthed to Lacus as they each took their seats in the back of the limo. Eclipse didn’t sit for long, however, sliding down onto the floor and curling up in the corner near Lacus’s feet, the songstress throwing a black blanket over her to keep her hidden. The redhead heard her relay the information to the driver as Eclipse returned to the radio. “I think I’ll be okay for now.”

“ _Think_?”

The limo started moving and Eclipse heaved a sigh. Relief. “Say hi to Lathan for me.”

“Lexi, wait—”

Cringing—she knew she would be getting yelled at later—she turned off the radio and laid still as they stopped at the base gate. A few words were exchanged with the driver before Eclipse heard Lacus lower the window.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” she asked. “I was asked to observe some new equipment by my father and then quickly shuffled out when all of these alarms started going off.”

“That makes sense we are trying to shuffle civilians out as safely and quickly as possible,” the guard responded, his voice deeper than Eclipse had been anticipating and she cursed silently. She had hoped some newbie recruits were keeping an eye on the gates. “We are still required to search your car though, miss.”

“Oh? Are you assuming that the daughter of Siegel Clyne is doing something shady?”

“Miss Clyne—”

“The very same daughter who was just allowed access to top secret information of the ZAFT military?”

“I’m sorry, miss, but it’s protocol.”

Eclipse tried to still her body as much as she could, keeping her breath slow as she clenched the radio to her chest and willed her hands to stop shaking. If she was found, she knew, she would never leave that medical facility again. She could feel it in her bones. Her only ticket to freedom was this pink-haired girl, her quick wit, and the soldiers’ carelessness.

“Then you are aware I must also follow protocol,” Lacus continued, her voice dipping into stern authority that Eclipse had remembered hearing that day when she stopped Le Creuset’s counterattack. “I daresay you keeping me at this gate is dangerous to my wellbeing and since I do not know what threat is affecting this base, I can only assume the worse. Can I get your name please, soldier?”

Eclipse started hearing him stammer then and she felt the grin grow on her lips that time.

“I would like my father to be aware that despite him allowing me Council-level access to this facility, I was not ushered out as quickly as possible when danger did arise.”

The soldier sighed. “S-sorry, Miss Clyne, you are right. You may go. Please be safe.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The redhead felt the car jerk as it started moving again and the window rolled up just as Lacus released a long sigh. Even she had been on edge, it seemed. Still, Eclipse hadn’t moved, waiting for the Pink Princess to let her know when she could retake her seat, which happened approximately five minutes later.

“I think you can come out now, Miss Eclipse.”

The redhead didn’t wait a moment longer, crawling out from under the blanket and sitting down in the seat to the left of Lacus. She was smiling softly and Eclipse breathed a “Thank you,” before opening the window and tossing the radio out just as they turned onto the highway. The pieces would probably be found eventually, but, hopefully, she would be gone by that time.

A _beep_ near Lacus sounded as Eclipse was watching the window roll up, turning her attention to the other side of the car and the Pink Princess as she pressed the button on the monitor. She wasn’t in a good position to see the screen, but the voice was familiar and Eclipse felt her pulse speed up.

_DaCosta?_

“Are you on your way back?”

“Yes, we are safe.”

“We—what? No—wait, actually I don’t want to know. I can’t really yell at you but—” He paused, probably scratching the back of his head. “Just think—no, understand that—no—ugh, just get to the meeting spot.”

“Roger that.” Lacus smiled, the redhead could hear it in her voice. “How’s _he_ doing?” she asked after a pause and it wasn’t until that moment Eclipse started feeling it: exhausted. Her entire body began to ache and her hitched breathing was now painful, a firm reminder that while adrenaline was wonderful for the short term, it definitely didn’t linger on into the long term.

“You’ll see when you get here.”

They chatted about a few more things, Eclipse slowly turning and sinking down into the seat on her side of the limo. Her forehead leaned against the side of the vehicle near the window, her head bobbing with the movement on the highway. Rest. That’s what she needed. Her body craved for it so much she missed DaCosta’s exclamation about finally seeing her on the other side of the car. Missed his quick interrogation of Lacus who probably told him little other than she was alive. And missed Lacus tossing the blanket over her as she finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Eclipse hadn’t ended up in a comfortable position, but at least her mind was at ease, never having annoying glimpses of nightmares or getting woken up for drug doses. For the first time in weeks, she was able to fall into a deep sleep. Given, it was for a mere fifteen minutes, but even after Lacus shook her awake, she felt more refreshed. Not refreshed enough for her body to feel completely healed, however. 

The driver opened the door, offering a smile and a small bow to the two females as they climbed out onto the curb. Lacus went first, pulling her hood up over her head and saying a soft thank you to the man before turning to extend a hand to the redhead scrambling behind her. Eclipse took the hand and let the singer pull her out. The first step onto the concrete was _not_ a pleasant one. Sharp pain shot up through the joint at her ankle to her hip, buckling her knee and—if it wasn’t for the quick reflexes of the fair limo driver—she would have fallen face first onto the sidewalk. 

“Oh my! Miss Eclipse, are you alright?”

The redhead could only think of retorts—some bitchy, sarcastic remarks that would do nothing more than hurt Lacus’s feelings. But, remembering all of the shit she had recently been through, Eclipse almost said them, thinking she deserved some kind of chance for verbal retaliation. Sighing, she bit her tongue instead, knowing that yelling at Lacus was going to do nothing for the pain. In fact, it might make things worse because the singer hadn’t done anything to deserve such treatment. Perhaps she was grouchier than she had thought.

“I’ll be fine eventually. But for now, can you help me walk?” It was a humbling question, and even scary when the redhead realized she was knowingly putting Lacus in danger. If they were somehow followed and her enemy saw her so pitiful, they could easily be attacked and Eclipse couldn’t do anything about it. “Shit,” she whispered.

“Miss Eclipse, you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself; of course I’ll help you. Now, can you stand up on your own or do you need me to pull you?”

Eclipse couldn’t tell if she was poking her pride or not. At first, she just stared, trying to read the singer’s facial expression, but soon stopped, realizing she was just being paranoid. Besides, wasn’t DaCosta nearby? They were going to be just fine. Hoisting herself up, she stood on shaky legs and wrapped her arm over Lacus’s shoulders. How pitiful she must have looked. She was still in a medical gown, still barefoot, and the ragged doctor’s jacket was still around her shoulders. To top it all off, she was being helped by Lacus Clyne of all people through a side path toward the back end of a building in the middle of an area she didn’t recognize.

“M’lady, I’ll go park the car.”

“That would be fine, thank you,” the singer said, smiling at the driver and pulling Eclipse along beside her as they made their way down the path and nearing a back set of steps to an old apartment building.

The redhead wasn’t sure where they had ended up, but by the looks of the place, they were in a part of the city mostly ignored by the governmental board. It didn’t seem dangerous in any way, but rundown enough for a limo to look conspicuous. There was nothing obvious enough to make it look so dirty, but there was a tense atmosphere that made Eclipse’s sensors go off in a trained panic. No one seemed to be around, or, if they were, there didn’t seem to be anyone willing to jump in and call them out for their suspicious demeanor.

“The others should be inside,” Lacus said, her lips twisting into a smile as she helped Eclipse up the steps to the building. “We can start explaining things to you then.” The redhead nodded, having nothing in particular to say. She was just happy to be able to sit down and not worry about being prodded with a needle or have sensors put on her head.

Lacus reached forward to grasp the handle as they neared, but the door swung open before the singer could get a good grip. Eclipse’s soldier instincts flared to life, when she saw what had happened. Tightening her grip around Lacus’s shoulder and neck, she pulled the singer down and behind her, swinging the Pink Princess to the porch steps and gathering herself into a defensive position in front of her. Using her left hand, Eclipse reached down for the gun at her belt, realizing there was nothing there only after the door was completely open. 

"Thank goodness you two—” DaCosta didn’t finish his statement, having to take a step back when the redhead’s instincts forced her into a hand-to-hand frenzy. She didn’t do much harm, however, the adrenaline rush not numbing enough to block out the pain. Gasping, she stopped mid-lunge, remembering too late her injured ankle. 

“Miss Eclipse!” Lacus yelled when the redhead fell onto her knees, quickly moving to help her back up.

DaCosta sighed. “I didn’t mean to scare you. C’mon, let’s get you upstairs.”

The apartment was set up much like the last one Eclipse had seen, with the kitchen near the door, a nice living room with the shades closed, and every table littered with assorted pieces of paper. There was more of a musty smell to the place instead of the coffee fragrance the redhead was expecting, but the familiar aroma was still there just not as strong as Eclipse remembered. The man, however, was exactly where she expected him to be.

Near the door.

Waltfeld embraced Eclipse into a hug as soon as they walked into the kitchen, holding her so tight all of her wounds throbbed. “Thank God.” Her arms crunched against her sides as the commander tightened his grip, causing a painful whimper to escape her lips. Either Waltfeld didn’t care or he didn’t hear the sound because it took him a moment to respond, slowly letting her go only after DaCosta tapped him on the shoulder. The older man was just so relieved. “Oh, I’m so sorry. We were so worried—Eclipse?”

It must have been one of those moments where relief overloaded the system, sending the redhead’s body into an ultimate calm. Her muscles gave out, breath slowed and eyes closed, sending her tumbling to the ground. Waltfeld was talking and then he wasn’t; it was as simple as that. Someone grabbed her wrist, another her waist and she was out.

She didn’t dream. Normally when she blacked out, there were at least images. Usually nothing made any sense, but her mind was always working. That time, however, it was just black and when she woke up, it felt like seconds. Coffee was the first thing she recognized. It wasn’t something terribly unusual—concerning who her friends were—but it was strange enough for her sleep-drugged mind to fully awake.

She was on the couch in the living room, still in the medical gown, but a blanket had been thrown over her. She looked ahead and up, trying to comprehend the faint light seeping through the shades. There was no way to tell what time of day it was, or even if it was nighttime. All she could do was stare.

And panic. 

_Am I back on Earth? Where am I? Why am I here?_

Her breath quickened as her mind switched to another scenario. 

The labcoat. 

It was draped over the far armrest near her feet, still dirty, still torn, and still bloody. Quickly, she looked to her right at the open expanse, then to her left at the back of the couch as she clawed at her arms.

_IVs. Where are they? Is this another simulation? Where are the nurses?_

Pain. Her head pounded, her throat hurt, her wrists—everything just throbbed. Her mouth clicked dry, but her hands were clammy as they continued their inspection.

_IVs—drugs—I know they’re here._

“Eclipse—hey, calm down.”

_A voice? Who is it? Is this still in the simulation?_

“Commander, she’s shivering and sweating pretty bad. But her fever—”

“Her eyes scaring me the most. Eclipse—Lexi!”

_Voices. Only voices. Where’re the guns? There’re always guns. The enemy has to be nearby. …They’re going to kill me._

“Withdrawal?”

“Maybe.”

“Then what do we do?”

 _Where are they? They’re coming, I can feel it, but from where? The right?_ Turning, she saw fingers reaching for her wrists. The hand flickered as it neared, and Eclipse nearly laughed despite her paranoia. _A knife, really?_ The redhead reacted, grabbing the hand and taking a moment to feel for the knuckle. Using her last three fingers and palm to steady her attacker’s hand, she braced her thumb and index finger, pushing down on one of her enemy’s fingers until she felt it pop. A scream.

Good.

Shifting her fingers, she grasped the wrist and pulled the arm towards her. She felt the weight of the body and used the momentum to pull herself upwards, readying her left fist for a punch, and was going to swing when a second assailant grabbed her hand. _Another one?_ She tried to struggle free, but there wasn’t enough time. The body to her right fell into hers, sandwiching her head and upper torso back against the cushion. Now both arms were caught.

_I’m dead._

She screamed.

“Give her here.”

“Y-you got her?”

“I have an idea. Go take care of your finger.”

“B-but, sir—”

“I said, go!”

Eclipse kept screaming and thrashed on the couch as soon as the dead weight moved away, but she was still stuck. Whoever had her, was in a good position. Her right arm was pinned under—what felt like—a knee on her lower abdomen, or a whole body given the amount of weight crunching her lower torso. Her elbow—bent backwards over the frame of the couch—screeched in protest, and her back buckled to lessen the pain, but her assailant just pushed it harder against the frame.

“Eclipse, stop struggling and I won’t break it.” Something shattered nearby, bringing a frustrated curse from the man’s lips. “You’re fine,” the voice continued. “You’re not there anymore. It’s Commander Waltfeld and you’re safe with me.”

Bringing her knee up, she attempted to knock the man off, but he shifted his weight, pushing his knee further into her abdomen. She screamed again as tears started to form in her eyes. Why was she still being treated like an animal? Why was she still trapped? Waltfeld was just a name they were throwing out to trick her. It had to be. She wasn’t safe. She was still a genetic reject, poked, sliced, and monitored.

"Eclipse, relax!”

It wasn’t the voice or the pain that brought her back, but the fragrance of spilled coffee. It invaded her cloudy mind and inserted some sense of clarity. She felt the couch cushion beneath her, the springs tense with Waltfeld’s added weight. The faint light through the blinds had grown brighter, displaying the messy table down to her right and the coffee-stained carpet from when the cup had fallen. Cursing from the kitchen curved her neck awkwardly over the armrest. DaCosta stood over the sink, his hand down into the basin and freezing in some ice, the redhead figured.

“Eclipse?”

Waltfeld’s voice brought her back to her own predicament, forcing her mind back into her body just in time to feel the tense pain in her left elbow. “S-simulation?” she whispered through clenched teeth. The commander had her good.

“Eclipse?”

“I-is this a simulation?”

“No, you really _are_ safe now.”

Hesitating, she forced out a laugh, the tears dribbling down her cheeks. Sure, it could have been a lie conducted by the simulation, but the smell was just too real. She _had_ to believe him. “Can I have my arm back then?”

“Depends. Are you going to break another of DaCosta’s fingers?”

“Not unless he does something stupid again.” 

Waltfeld laughed at that, loosening his grip on her until he finally let go and moved away from the couch. Hugging her elbow, the redhead blinked a couple of times at the ceiling before turning and offering an apologetic smile. Sighing, the commander fell back into the opposite recliner. “You’re a piece of work.”

She almost laughed as well, looking over at DaCosta cradling his injured hand and then looking down at the broken coffee mug on the floor. This kind of “work” seemed so minor compared to what those doctors had been doing, but either way she found the phrase ironic. “So I’ve been told.”

* * *

It was decided Eclipse would stay with Waltfeld and DaCosta. No surprise. Technically, the redhead was used to living with all males, but, for once, she wished there could be _some_ kind of female presence other than her own. At least she saw Lacus often, but it was mostly when strategy meetings had to be done between her, Waltfeld, and her father, Siegel Clyne. Eclipse had met the man a few times and she remembered thinking that he was too kind of a person to be talking about things such as trying to undermine the Council and convince the people to a peaceful means instead of Zala’s ever progressing trajectory towards a bloodier war. Even listening to Lacus say similar things made her nervous so much so that she had asked her one evening to stop and just lay low.

“Please, you’re going to get hurt.”

“Me?” Lacus asked, looking over at Eclipse from just above the rim of her teacup, her pink Haro stopping its bouncing just as Eclipse had spoken.

“Yes, what you’re doing is dangerous.”

“Many things we do in a war are risky, Miss Eclipse, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do them.”

“I know that, but, Lacus, you’re just a girl, her father, and a few others. You’re gaining enemies by the hour.”

Lacus brought the teacup down, cupping the porcelain between her fingers in the lap of her purple skirt. She wore a white blouse to compliment the skirt and her hair was braided, currently draping down over her left shoulder and nearly falling into her tea. “We’re more than that, Miss Eclipse, and I know you know that otherwise you wouldn’t be here with us now.”

The redhead frowned and turned away, bringing her own teacup to her lips as she hiked up her legs underneath her on the couch, her jeans scraping against the fabric and sounding just as scratchy as the oversized sweater draped over her small frame. She had, apparently, lost quite a bit of weight since being kept at the facility and the unlikely combo of Lacus and DaCosta had put her on a diet which included nutritious drinks, often physically forcing Waltfeld’s coffee concoctions away from her. She was sipping on a particular blend of tea that day she didn’t really like, but their concern was touching and the redhead found herself giving in more often than not, even if that meant Waltfeld was basically making her cups of coffee as if on the black market, exchanging signals whenever she wanted to partake in their addictive habit.

It was all a rather strange version of life Eclipse didn’t know what to make of and getting back to her old self was priority, especially if she wanted to be useful. Rebuilding her muscle mass was the biggest issue at that time, and though the redhead had been making good progress recently, her sore ankle was making the entire ordeal rather unpleasant. All of that compounding with sleepless nights, instances of withdrawal, and the constant worry she couldn’t stop feeling for the Pink Princess across from her, added an inkling of fear she couldn’t quite shake. Eclipse wasn’t sure whether the paranoia was an extension of her withdrawal or her trauma, but no matter how many times she brought up her concerns with DaCosta or Waltfeld they would only be able to calm her fears for a couple of hours, the pit in her stomach too deep to soothe her for long. Eclipse was practically a ghost of herself and that meant she was powerless to do anything—a feeling of helplessness that she struggled with every day.

“We’re an idea,” Lacus continued. “And ideas are not so easily dissolved.” She smiled weakly, but Eclipse didn’t return the look, her worry still obvious on her face despite most of it hiding behind her drink. “We have to find a peaceful solution to this war.”

The redhead sighed and she could hear Lacus do the same a moment later. It wasn’t the same, exasperated sigh DaCosta often gave her, but a quiet one filled with an understanding Eclipse could never really place when it came to Lacus. It was a level of patience the redhead didn’t think she deserved, and her eyes turned away to linger on the curtains drawn over the window instead of facing her current housemate head on.

_An end to the war…_

She had yet to officially decide if she wanted to join the Clyne Faction, the tug in her chest towards Stray and FS still strong enough of an itch to keep her at arm’s length. They were her problem, she knew, not ZAFT’s, but the pull towards the Clyne Faction was getting stronger by the day, not only because of her fear for the Pink Princess and her other comrades, but because of what had happened at Alaska. The devastation had tipped them all over the edge. The PLANTs were in an uproar—paranoid even—and wondering, if the Earth Alliance always had such horrific technology as the CYCLOPS system, how long would it take them to turn their wrath at the PLANTs and not merely the military? The Council was doing its best to keep the panic down, but their terms were more along the line of totalitarianism.

The Clyne Faction really didn’t like the idea so they had moved to shifting public opinion, turning to radio broadcasts in an effort to keep the war from veering off towards what every compass was pointing to: complete destruction on both sides. Lacus had been the main voice of these broadcasts and while her celebrity status was gaining them supporters, they were gaining some pretty powerful enemies as well, including some members of the Council. Even though most of the public didn’t know Lacus and her father had been involved with the Freedom theft, the Council did and that was clear if only based on the rare nervousness Lacus’s father displayed when Eclipse saw him at meetings. Yes, they had Waltfeld and most of the _Eternal_ crew behind them, but the broadcast idea was going to involve a lot of planning and a lot of moving mostly away from the safety of said warship.

“Did you get us out of the lease?” Waltfeld asked, pointing a pen in DaCosta’s direction at one of their strategy meetings a few days later. Seigel Clyne was not present at that particular gathering, which said more than his presence and they needed to find a new location. Things were getting dangerous if Lacus’s dad couldn’t risk coming out to them for a meeting.

DaCosta nodded. “I also managed to find us a new place, but if we keep doing this, we’ll start looking suspicious.”

“I’d offer to stay on the _Eternal_ , but then you guys would be left to do things on your own,” Waltfeld offered.

“That might not be a bad idea,” Eclipse said, leaning on her left palm. This was their second meeting of the day and they had already been going for an hour. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the redhead had been allowed to leave the apartment, but Waltfeld still had her on house arrest and watching everyone leave but her was getting old. She was finally starting to feel and look like herself again, but not even that was enough to convince the others to let her roam around on her own. “You’re a high-ranking officer in the military,” Eclipse explained, “and if you keep sneaking around like you have, people will look into it. DaCosta might be low enough on the ladder to be okay, but we really have to start watching what we’re doing.”

“You mean slow down our plans?” Lacus asked, her face showing she didn’t really like the idea.

“We might not have a choice,” the redhead continued. “Even if it’s only for a couple of days, we might want to revert back to coded messages for a while to let some of the heat cool.”

“Eclipse has a point. It wouldn’t do us any good to get caught cheating this early in the game,” Waltfeld said, leaning back in his chair. “I’ll go back to the _Eternal_ tonight and send some people over to help you guys move out in the morning.”

“I think I’ll go to the _Eternal_ as well,” DaCosta said. “Having an officer like me share an apartment with two younger ladies might look suspicious.”

“Or lucky,” Waltfeld commented and Eclipse had to cover up a laugh.

DaCosta ignored him, used to the harmless ridicule. “I’m sure you girls can lay low for a while, right?” The greencoat eyed the redhead specifically, knowing her tally of reckless acts. Eclipse almost took offense, but backed off in the end and merely nodded. DaCosta had every right to look at her in such a manner. The still bruised and taped finger in his lap being one of the main ones.

“Well then, I think that’s all for today,” Waltfeld said, stretching in his seat before hoisting himself up. “I’m heading back to the _Eternal._ DaCosta, wait an hour or two then you can join me. You two, on the other hand,” he turned to Lacus and Eclipse, “are to stay indoors until the morning. Is that clear?”

Sighing, they had no choice but to nod. While staying hidden was essential, it was as boring as watching water boil on the stove. And that, unfortunately, had become a fun pastime for the two females. 

Waltfeld left soon after, leaving the others to crowd around the television and sink into the furniture, exhausted. “How’re you feeling, Eclipse? Any better?” DaCosta asked, moving some papers around to unbury the remote.

“I still get really bad headaches and the chills, but not as often as I used to,” the redhead said. “Mostly, though, I think it’s more because my mind’s so bored than because it’s sick. Those migraines give it something to do.” DaCosta just nodded, finding the progress impressive and he was relieved, if he was being honest. Both him and Waltfeld had expected her to have mental scars beyond just the paranoia she had been displaying lately, but there might have been something more to that, DaCosta knew. Eclipse remembered very little of those two weeks and depending on how much memory the trauma buried, that could be a blessing in disguise.

“So, have you decided on what to do, Miss Eclipse?” Lacus asked, sitting down on the couch between the two. “You’ll be fully recovered soon and, while we wouldn’t mind another resourceful ally, you’re under no obligation to stay with us.”

Eclipse thought about it for a moment, but still ended up sighing, turning away from the two of them to lean on her left palm. Despite everything, her sentiments still hadn’t really wavered. “I still have to look for SIN-ED.”

“You don’t _have_ to,” DaCosta remarked, practically spitting out the words. “They were just using you, and—I’m not sure how—but apparently, you no longer exist in the military. What’s the point in doing a mission if the person assigned is nonexistent?” DaCosta pointed out, scratching the back of his head. When she looked confused, he tried to explain. “We were only able to confirm this a couple of days ago, but at some point in that two weeks, they cut out your military record altogether. The commander and I couldn’t find anything on you. We figured the facility on Januarias 4 was erased, but we didn’t think they’d delete _you_ as well. Lunar Eclipse is officially gone. No matter how much hype there was about you, no matter how important or impressive you are as a ZAFT pilot, you’re basically a rumor now. A ghost even among the fabled Le Creuset pilots.” DaCosta sighed and scratched his head once more. “I think there’re enough people who admire your reputation that you _could_ still walk around as Lunar Eclipse, but you actually might have to consider getting an alias.”

“An alias for an alias?” DaCosta shrugged and Eclipse sighed. Technically, Lunar Eclipse _was_ the name she escaped behind. Coming up with another one seemed redundant, but did she really want to go back to her birth name? Could she stand being Lexi Rymyr again? After everything she went through as a child, and the freedom—sort of—she felt from no one knowing who she was, could she so easily become Lexi once more? She really wasn’t sure. Starting over again was so tempting, and besides, her parents would get hounded relentlessly if she showed back up as a ZAFT elite. The daughter of the people most promoting total pacifism lollygagging as a mobile suit pilot? She couldn’t even imagine the look on their faces if they found out her kill count. Perhaps an alias really was her only option. She sighed when she felt Lacus shift to turn to her, already knowing she was going to say the exact opposite to what the redhead had been thinking.

“What about Lexi Rymyr?” Lacus suggested. “I think it’s about time you became yourself again. No matter how much you want to avoid it, you can’t change who you are or who you’ve become.” 

“There’s a lot more heat with the name ‘Lexi Rymyr’ than I think you really understand.” Eclipse turned and looked at Lacus sadly, the other girl offering a warm smile of comfort in return. “Who I am now and that name don’t mesh as easily as you are implying.”

“As far as I have been concerned, you have always been Miss Lexi to me.” Eclipse cringed at the name and even DaCosta smirked. “Lunar Eclipse was name given to you by ZAFT, but that has never been who you are.”

Lacus’s logic was amusing, but—in the end—correct. Did she really have any other choice? Even if she took on another alias, her past would still be there. Drugs may have been able to erase some bad memories, but they couldn’t change the fact that they still _happened_. Lexi Rymyr still existed, as did Lunar Eclipse. It would take years to come to terms with what Lunar Eclipse had done—and, no doubt what had happened in the past couple of weeks would haunt her—but did she want to make another alias and then have three lives to clean up after? Wouldn’t it just be easier to fix one at a time and not add on to the misery? 

If that was true, why did she suddenly feel terrified?

“I-I’ll think about it.”

“Well, don’t take too long,” DaCosta began, leaning in the opposite direction on the sofa, his cheek pressed against his upraised fist as he turned to look at the two women. “Time isn’t exactly a luxury right now and—I know I’m sounding pushy, but we _need_ to know if we can count on you.”

“But you _can_ count on me.”

“I mean in the Faction. If you need time to get reacquainted with yourself or take on SIN-ED, then go, but if you’re _positive_ you want to stay here, then we can start factoring you into our future plans. As it stands, I don’t think any of us are comfortable with a half-hearted member.” 

His words stung the redhead at first, but once she push down her ego, his statement began making sense. The Clyne Faction was about to be taking some huge risks and if there were some people not completely dedicated, they could ruin everything. Yes, she wanted to stay with the commander and the others, but with her resolve being so shaky, she would only be making things worse. There were too many questions she had, about who—no, _what_ she was and why she was so interesting. And SIN-ED, she couldn’t just leave them alone and let them do as they pleased. She was the only one who knew anything about them really. 

She sighed. “Just a little time, please.”

“I’ll give you one more day. Now.” Sitting up, DaCosta cracked his knuckles and reached backwards for the deck of cards. “Who wants to play Rummy?”

* * *

Apparently, one of the reasons Lacus’s father couldn’t come to the meeting the previous day was because the theft of the Freedom had made it to the media and the Clyne family name was being associated with it—or, at least, Lacus’s name. Her face was posted everywhere—television screens, magazines, billboards—and no longer for her pop career. The words “Is she really a traitor?” were listed in red below each smiling portrait.

“This is just stupid,” a teen grumbled, throwing one such magazine onto the ground as Eclipse walked by. “It’s just a bunch of military bullshit to keep us from—”

“Hush!” his girlfriend exclaimed, slapping a hand over his mouth. It was a shame, actually, because the teen seemed rather intuitive and able to see through the blatant propaganda that was mixed with the truth of the newspaper articles. Sometimes people should start paying attention to their youth, or at least their emotions. While Lacus _did_ give the Freedom to Kira, it was nice to see such teenagers becoming so involved. After all, the government really _didn’t_ know what it was going to do about Lacus and now that Zala was in charge, things were going to get a bit interesting.

“Hey, Lexi, you coming or what?” DaCosta asked, holding open the door to the downtown grocery. He was dressed as commonly as her, Eclipse wearing jeans and a blue, long-sleeved shirt and DaCosta wearing black slacks and a light green, buttoned-up shirt, the two of them trying to kick enough of the military out of them to look normal.

The redhead hesitated at his question, finally nodded after a few breaths. It had taken all of one evening for Lacus to convince her to take up the name again and the news had spread fast among the group, so fast, in fact, Waltfeld had called her that morning—using her name, of course—and officially took her off house arrest. So, there she was, meeting DaCosta to buy some final bits of nourishment before their move to their new location. She was still getting used to being called ‘Lexi,’ but it was just a name, she had told herself, knowing she would probably never stop referring to herself as Eclipse until she could come to terms with what returning back to Lexi Rymyr really meant. Sighing at the complexity of it all, she walked towards DaCosta, said a quiet thanks to him for holding open the door and left the arguing teens behind. 

Stepping inside the building, Eclipse immediately started grumbling. Leave it to Waltfeld to make her do all the shopping again. Back in Banadiya, he would routinely send her out on these little errands, hoping to—well—she had no idea. Probably hoping she’d become a little less domestically challenged. At least there was Lacus to even out the guy-girl ratio and even though she wasn’t as outgoing as Aisha was, the pink-haired princess definitely kept things interesting. However, the tides had turned and now Lacus couldn’t leave either Waltfeld’s or DaCosta’s sight—or at least someone in the Faction—and would frequently switch hideouts, sending out peace talks over radio waves. It was still a good plan and was having an effect on the public, but now that her face was everywhere, it was getting even more dangerous. Waltfeld had tried talking her out of it and lying low, but not even the great Desert Tiger had any sway over her and just swore to keep her as protected as he was able. The Clyne Faction, no matter how cliché or how expected, was serving its purpose: pissing off a lot of high-ranking people and making friends with the less important ones.

“You think too much,” DaCosta remarked, shoving a red, plastic shopping basket into her hands.

"What’s that supposed to mean?”

"All you do nowadays is stare off into the distance and don’t let the rest of us in on the joke. Commander’s actually getting annoyed with it.”

“No, he’s not,” she argued, throwing some canned vegetables into the basket. “He has as many personal conversations as I do.”

“Yes, but he’s in charge. It’s alright if he does it.”

Eclipse glared at the officer, but couldn’t hold the look for long. He was right, even if she was too stubborn to admit it. Waltfeld could think whatever the hell he wanted to because he was in charge and probably had more to think about than she did. For an instant, she wished she had such freedom, but shot it down immediately. She couldn’t imagine what her Berserker half would do with that kind of authority. 

“And stop looking so gloomy. You’re supposed to blend in, remember?”

“What, isn’t being an over-emotional teen considered blending in? I could say, ‘But, Dad, I want _this_ cereal!’ However, I think you’d slap me over the head and make me eat spinach for the rest of my life.”

DaCosta just glared, deciding that keeping his mouth shut was his only option. After all, he had been around her and Lacus long enough to know when keeping quiet was better than shoving his foot into his mouth. Shaking his head, he looked away and held out his hand for the list.

“How endearing,” Eclipse grumbled, noting his cold response. “Just for that treatment, _Dad_ , I’m making _you_ get the tampons.” He made no comment again and just rolled his eyes. She couldn’t tell if it was from the “Dad” remark or the feminine hygiene one, but she didn’t care. Smiling innocently, she turned down a different aisle. 

She would just have to come back later for the tampons.

“In other news, there have been no leads in the investigation concerning the pop singer, Lacus Clyne. As noted yesterday, we received an anonymous tip about her involvement with the stolen mobile suit, the Freedom,” the television said, turning the redhead back towards the register. The volume was so loud the cashier must have turned it up and—considering the topic—Eclipse could understand her interest. “The military has been keeping the matter hush hush—and Chairman Zala has yet to make an official statement—but our reporters are working around the clock to verify the information. There is some good news, however, because Lacus’s fiancé—and the Chairman’s son—Athrun Zala arrived on Junias 5 this morning from his previous station on Aprilias 1. He failed to show up for the press conference yesterday and has yet to offer any comments on his fiancé’s possible wrongdoings, but there is a reporter tracking him now and we hope to give you some information soon.”

DaCosta must have been listening to the broadcast as well because his quiet curses sounded close behind her. As soon as the report finished, his hand was at her elbow, pulling her to the register and out the door once they paid for their items. “Damn it,” he hissed, still holding onto her arm as they sped down the sidewalk. “Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

“What’s bothering you?” she asked, trying to stay in step.

“I really didn’t want you to hear that.”

“Hear what? About Lacus? Or about Athrun?”

“The commander’s going to be pissed.”

“Why?” DaCosta didn’t answer, turning a corner and pulling her down an alleyway. Obviously, they were trying to stay away from the main road. What, did he think they were going to magically run into Athrun or something? “Why will the commander be pissed?”

“Nevermind.”

“Nevermind? Damn it, DaCosta, you’re pulling me down some shady alleyway to avoid who knows what and you’re telling me to just forget about it? No,” she hissed, pulling her arm from his grasp and nearly dumping the groceries in the bag around her arm onto the street. “Why will Waltfeld be pissed?”

“Later.”

"No, now.” DaCosta looked as if he was going to say something, but cursed instead. What had him so worried? “I have the right to know.”

“Oh yeah? And what right is that?”

“The right that says you can’t just pull my arm out of its socket and down a dark alley because you’re keeping something from me, now spill.” DaCosta sighed and looked around. Eclipse could tell he didn’t want to say anything, and the way he chronically glanced at his watch made her nervous. “It was just a stupid broadcast that let you know everything’s okay on our end because the investigation isn’t going anywhere,” she began, trying to break the ice. “There’s nothing to—” 

“We didn’t want you to know Athrun was here.”

That surprised her. Not only was she stationed on his team not so long ago, but they were good friends. What would keeping his whereabouts secret hope to accomplish? “Why? Did you think I would just go running to him or something?”

“Honestly? Yes.”

Eclipse blinked, taken aback by the answer. Sure, she had a tendency to be a bit rash, but why did they care if she at least talked to him? “Why?” The officer looked away, scratching the back of his head. He was nervous about something. “Why, DaCosta?”

“Because we think he might’ve had something to do with you being in that medical facility.”

“What?” Now _that_ surprised her. “Commander Le Creuset gave me my orders, not Athrun.”

“That’s what you _say_ , but on the original report, Athrun’s signature is there, not Le Creuset’s. You had a bit of memory loss so—”

“I would _never_ forget that. Yes, I forgot a few things, but—”

“He _was_ your commanding officer at the time—”

“And Le Creuset was _his_ commanding officer, DaCosta. Not to mention Athrun was still in the hospital. Most likely, the facility needed both signatures and since Athrun was—”

DaCosta sighed. “He was well when you left Earth, correct?”

“Define well.”

“Able to sign military documents?”

“Damn it, DaCosta, Athrun would not have just signed that paper if he knew what they were—”

“But the Chairman knew, Lexi, so why wouldn’t his son? And Commander Le Creuset knew as well. Didn’t you just say he was the commanding officer?”

Eclipse couldn’t believe what she was hearing. There was no way Athrun would willingly send her off to be a pin cushion. After everything, the redhead _knew_ he wasn’t like that. There had to have been some kind of information cover-up because wasn’t he surprised when he found out how important she had been in Orb? The Chairman _had_ to have known because he had her original file and just a short surf on the web would pull up any additional information. Sure, they blocked out most of the important information to get her into the military, but there was no way the Chairman _didn’t_ have access to it. So, if DaCosta’s reasoning was right, Athrun should have known who she really was from the beginning. There was no way a soldier that smart would barge into Eclipse’s room and nearly get killed just because he was trying to keep his cover. Not even a trained soldier could tell Athrun had been surprised. “Athrun’s never really been close to his father,” she admitted, thinking that information alone would clear things up.

“And how would _you_ know that for sure? If he told you, it could have been a lie.”

“No, he rarely talked about him, but I could tell by the way he acted and spoke,” she remarked, remembering a few more instances. “During the election, he never watched the news like the others did. He was always reading or doing some kind of paperwork. And when his father won, he didn’t care.”

“Those things are easy enough to pull off.”

“And whenever his father was mentioned, his calm demeanor would falter. It was only for a second, but it would break his concentration. Oh, and he never voluntarily brought up his father either!” Eclipse exclaimed, becoming more and more convinced her training hadn’t failed her. She could read the people on her team easily enough and know if they were lying to her. 

DaCosta, however, didn’t seem as confident in her detective work. “And what about Commander Le Creuset?”

“What about him?”

“How did Athrun treat him?”

The redhead hesitated then, knowing how the young commander—as well as the other members of her team—felt about that man. Eclipse was wary, almost terrified of him, but the others held nothing but admiration for him. They would follow him blindly, no questions asked.

DaCosta sighed, figuring she had come to the same conclusion he and Waltfeld had. “I’m sorry, Lexi, but I’m forbidding you to see him until we know the facts.”

The redhead bit her tongue. They were only trying to protect her, she knew, and since she had failed to appreciate their instincts before, she had no choice but to trust them now. “Yes, sir.”

When DaCosta and Eclipse got back to the new meeting location—an out-of-town motel with the security cameras turned at an awkward angle away from the doors so the two could get inside relatively unnoticed—Lacus and Commander Waltfeld were already deep in conversation. Waltfeld was trying to talk her out of something—that was evident by his flailing arm and frustrated expression—but, as they all knew, it was nearly impossible to talk that Pink Princess out of anything.

“Lacus, just because he’s your fiancé it doesn’t mean you _have_ to talk to him. You’re supposed to stay _out_ of the limelight and hooking up with the son of the man looking for you is just plain stupid.”

“I _need_ to talk to him, Mr. Waltfeld. The friend Athrun believed he had killed is alive and piloting the Freedom.”

Waltfeld sighed. Eclipse had a feeling the argument had been going on for a while. “Yes, Lacus, the Freedom. The newest and most powerful _mobile suit_ of the ZAFT military! It was one of the only reasons _my ship_ was built in the first place!”

“Maybe so, but, as I told you already, I believe Kira can help us end this war.”

Eclipse cringed at the name, never getting used to the fact that the Strike pilot was still alive. In fact, she had been sadistically happy when she saw that suit blow up and was more than relieved to find out Athrun had survived the encounter. So, hearing his name then brought back some of her anger and forced her hands to do something instead of balling into fists. Separating the groceries worked just as well as anything.

“And I’m thinking, _you’re_ thinking Athrun can make a difference as well?” She nodded and Waltfeld hung his head in defeat. Eclipse had to hide a smile then, guessing what was running through his mind. He had gathered quite the stubborn team and, no doubt, he was wishing _one_ of them would start taking his advice. “Alright, fine,” the commander grumbled. “DaCosta, what’s the plan?”

“Sir, I just got here.”

“But you probably know all about this, right? After all, that’s why you and Lexi _conveniently_ left to go shopping.” Now he was just sounding like a whiny child, but—given the circumstances—Eclipse couldn’t blame him. He was left in charge of keeping the Pink Princess alive and she kept wanting to run with a primed grenade instead of throwing it. 

“Sir, you sent us out to do that,” the redhead explained, trying to get him to think rationally again.

“I don’t care!” Waltfeld yelled. “You _know_ I can’t resist—”

“Mr. Waltfeld, I have an idea.”

They all turned to Lacus and groaned. Of course she had a plan. She was a brilliant tactician in the making and always thought scenarios through. After all, giving away a high-tech mobile suit to a pilot of the Earth Alliance was just good, military intuition.

The three soldiers exchanged glances. Without even hearing what she had to say, they already knew two things about the plan.

It could potentially get her killed.

And they would end up doing it anyway.

* * *

Eclipse understood the reasoning, but she wished she could agree with it. After all the warnings against seeing Athrun, Lacus insisted the redhead be one of her bodyguards. Athrun was the guest of honor, so he was going to be there. And Eclipse was going to be there.

Hm, there were going to be some problems following DaCosta’s orders.

What she was even more worried about, however, was the singer’s choice of a meeting spot. While the building had been abandoned some time ago, the eroding ceiling and the moss growing on the interior made the inside look more like a greenhouse than a symphony theater. In fact, the redhead started getting really worried when part of the ceiling panels fell down once they had walked in, the rain outside doing more to the structure of the building than watering the unwanted plant life.

“Team A, watch the perimeter,” DaCosta explained, turning to the group of three on his left. They stood on the stage, Eclipse coming to the spot late after taking a short walk around the stage and interior. The big chunks of rock on the stage caught her off guard and made her nervousness rise to near paranoia. Why the hell did they go along with this? “Let us know if anyone comes, especially Athrun. For the sake of secrecy, call him Red Knight.”

“Roger that,” the group replied. It was a large area to cover, but with limited soldiers to spare, DaCosta had to trust them no matter what. He was a bit worried, so he saved a few more for the inside squads. Plus, he had Eclipse.

“Alright, Team B, spread out in the seated areas. Check under every damn popcorn kernel for enemies, pick a spot, then report in. I’d hate to hit you by accident when the shooting starts.”

“Roger.”

“Team C, you’ll spread out on the stage. Cover the back entrances, the fire escapes, trap doors—everything. Hide behind a damn prop if you have to.”

“Roger.”

“Sir, the stage?” Eclipse asked. She was assigned to Team B, but stuck around to hear the other orders.

“Lacus is going to be sitting there.”

The redhead blinked. “On stage?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Would it be pointless for me to ask why?”

“Yes.”

Both sighed. “Then maybe we should—”

“—monitor the box seats,” DaCosta finished.

“Agreed,” they said in unison.

The box seats were located on either side of the theater and—thanks to some interesting designers—the boxes were all connected to each other along the wall, a curtain being the only thing keeping the different sections apart. Climbing up the stairs to the East side, the redhead pulled aside those curtains, holding her breath and looking away so none of the dust blew into her eyes or she had the pleasure of inhaling it. Finding a good vantage point, she crouched down in the corner nearest to the stage, keeping one of the chairs between her and the doorway, but still able to see the main entrance on the floor. Resting her head against the moss on the railing, she waited.

_“Mizu no naka ni yoru ga yureteru._

_K_ _anashii hodo shizuka ni tatazumu._

_Midorinasu kishibe._

_Utsukushii yoake wo._

_Tada matte iraretara._

_Kirei na kokoro de.”_

Eclipse closed her eyes as soon as Lacus started singing. She had seen the princess getting ready backstage and—at the time—had shaken her head about the outfit she had chosen to wear. Lacus had decided to dress up, wearing a fancy blue dress that would do nothing more than trip her if she decided she had to start running for her life. Strapless, it flowed down to the floor and was accented by long sleeves attached at the singer’s upper arms. Visualizing her sitting down on the stage and singing, however, Eclipse understood why she had decided to wear something so formal. The last time Lacus was in the theater, she had worn that outfit and sang to her fans. Now, she did the same thing, singing to her friends and then to Athrun as soon as he walked through the door. 

Eclipse swallowed, feeling the tension slipping down her throat. Suddenly, she felt so emotional, the song bringing up memories she really didn’t want to think about; the most prominent being FS and Stray’s betrayal along with Nicol’s death. A lot had happened since she decided to join the war effort. 

And so far, she was cursing every day of it.

_"Kurai umi to sora no mukou ni._

_Arasoi no nai basho ga aruno to._

_Osiete kureta no wa dare._

_Dare mo ga tadori tsukenai._

_Soretomo dareka no kokoro no naka ni.”_

“Red Knight spotted.”

There he was, Athrun standing in the doorway with his weapon drawn, listening to Lacus’s song. Eclipse saw him hesitate and couldn’t help but sigh. She could only imagine what must have been running through his head then. Lacus betrayed him and his military, giving a high-tech mobile suit to the enemy; the enemy being Kira Yamato, Athrun’s longtime friend and most recent kill in battle. Well, he didn’t know that part yet.

_“Mizu no nagare wo shizumete._

_Kureru daichi wo uruosu shirabe._

_Ima wa doko nimo nakutemo._

_Kitto jibun de te ni ireruno._ _I_

_tsumo, itsuka, kitto.” ***_

Lacus continued her singing, the melody echoing through the hall as loudly as it had been the first time she had sung in the theater. Her audience was just as silent, transfixed on her words and wishing the horrid memories would stay away. Eclipse felt much like that, biting her bottom lip as she scanned for enemies. There was no way some emotional crescendos were going to cause her to miss one of Lacus’s potential killers. Funny how ever since Heine came into her life, she had become more connected with her musical side.

Athrun walked down the aisle with the gun at his side. His attention was solely on the singer—which wasn’t surprising—but showed a bit about his mental state as well. He was hurt, confused, and damn near angry with what had been going on. His walk was slow, seeming almost hesitant in his approach. His right hand clutched his handgun, holding it down at his side so as not to scare the young singer. In his injured hand, he held onto the pink Haro, the sling across his shoulder making her realize that he had been far more hurt than she had thought when she saw him last. Swallowing, she pushed that guilt and fear down for the moment, her eyes shifting instead to the pink ball in his hand. Lacus was going to be pleased to see it again. Eclipse had been surprised they had left it at her house at the time, but even Lacus had a very good sense of foresight, the redhead wagered.

Eclipse sighed, shaking off the sentimentality from Lacus’s song as she finished the last line and getting ready for what was most likely going to happen next.

The pink Haro was the one to make the first move, jumping down from Athrun’s hand up onto the stage, muttering its series of phrases including Lacus’s name.

“Well, hello there, Mr. Pink.” Catching the mechanical ball, she smiled and looked over at Athrun still standing in the center aisle. “I was certain you’d be the one to find him and bring him here. Thank you very much.”

“Why Lacus?” the pilot asked. His features screamed uncomfortable and his facial muscles were so tense Eclipse was afraid that if one of the enemy did come through the door right then, his finger would jump across the trigger and he would shoot himself in the foot. She had never seen him so on edge, not even after Nicol died. 

“Why what?” Lacus replied, adding a smile to her innocent look.

Athrun jumped up onto the stage to see the young singer face-to-face. “Explain yourself,” he began, swinging around some debris to stand in front of her. “What’ve you done?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard all about it. That’s why you came to see me, isn’t it?”

“Is it true what they’re saying about you? That you’re guilty of providing assistance to an enemy spy? How could you do that?”

Lacus paused, as if trying to find the words and she found her expression interesting. It was almost as if she had rehearsed this in her mind, her face displaying far more comfort than she thought the Pink Princess could give at the end of a barrel. “I did not provide assistance to an enemy spy. All I did was provide Kira with a newer, better sword.”

Eclipse looked down at Athrun then. She couldn’t really see his face, but she didn’t need to. His shoulders tensed as his right finger twitched against the trigger. A part of her wanted to see his face and wonder what was going through his head. She had had her own uncertainties when Lacus explained to her what had happened, but—no doubt—it was nothing compared to what was going through the young commander’s mind. After all, he had been the one to supposedly kill him.

“Enemy spotted,” a member of Team A said through the radio. Nodding to herself, Eclipse turned away from the talk and positioned herself next to the railing in a position where she could keep an eye on the box seat door and the front entrance of the theater. 

“Reverend Malchio found him unconscious and brought him to me,” Lacus continued. “Then I learned about what happened between you two; Kira told me. Don’t you believe what I’m telling you?”

 _Did you expect him to?_ Eclipse thought dryly, eyes darting around to each shadow. Her job might have been better easier if the building wasn’t filled with debris. Those large blocks of cement allowed for more coverage and more frustration for those trying to keep the reckless singer alive.

"Do you even believe what you see with your own eyes? On the battlefield, and now that you’ve returned to the PLANTs after being away for quite some time, haven’t you noticed things are different?”

“Lacus—”

“What _is_ it you believe in? What is it you’re fighting for now? Is it for that medal you received? Or your father’s orders?”

“Lacus!”

“Because if that is so, you’ll likely find yourself fighting Kira as his enemy again. And you’ll be fighting _me_ too.” There it was—what the singer had been meaning to tell him the entire time. To Eclipse’s ears, the words stung and she wasn’t even being the one interrogated. Or perhaps she still felt like it. What _was_ she even fighting for? There was this peace faction right in front of her, ready and willing to take her as a member, but she was hesitating. Why? Didn’t she tell herself once that she couldn’t live without war and fighting? Was that the reason she was so uncertain? If that was the case, shouldn’t she just go back to ZAFT?

 _Damn it all!_ she cursed, hating all the questions being brought up because of the whole ordeal. It was so much easier when she just didn’t care about any of it.

“So, if I’m to be your enemy, then you might as well kill me now, Athrun Zala soldier of ZAFT!”

“Enemy entering the building. Don’t have a good visual on the numbers. I’m guessing about fifteen,” announced the same member of Team A. Almost right after he made the announcement, some men in black suits and shades ran into the room, spreading out and filing down the aisles. So distraught, Athrun didn’t even notice the three that climbed up onto the stage behind him.

“You have our thanks, Athrun Zala.”

“What is this?” the young commander asked, aiming his gun at the man speaking to him. 

“Naturally, her fiancé would know her best,” he continued. “You saved us some time. Now, please step away from her. She’s a fugitive accused of treason. We have orders to use lethal force if need be. Are you _sure_ you want to protect her?”

“T-those orders can’t be right!” Athrun exclaimed, backing away and pulling Lacus behind him. 

Eclipse waited for DaCosta’s signal. She didn’t want to prematurely start a gunfight, but she didn’t want them to just take Athrun and Lacus either. “Lieutenant, I have a clear shot,” she said into the radio, avoiding DaCosta’s name in case the frequencies were being tapped. The last thing she wanted to do was blow the greencoat’s cover.

He didn’t respond, making the redhead nervous. Someone had yet to sneak upstairs on her side, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t over on the West side. DaCosta couldn’t be taken out that easily, could he? “Lieutenant—”

“Commence interception,” he announced and Eclipse saw one of the men aiming at Athrun topple to the ground with a bullet in his temple. Either DaCosta had _really_ good aim or his shot to wound went a little array. The man next to him on stage went down half a second later.

“Roger that,” she replied, popping up for a moment to clear the railing and shoot at an enemy hiding in the Eastern doorway. The bullet glanced off the woodwork, never coming close enough to harm the man, but killing him, was not Eclipse’s objective. Probably seeing her break cover, the man crouched down and inched outward. He took too shots at the box seats and she ducked, hearing his groan a moment later when one of the Clyne Faction most likely got him before he could put a couple more bullets into the decorated wood. “I owe you one, Team B,” she said as she risked another look over the railing.

“Thanks for getting him into the open,” was the quick reply and Eclipse smirked. It was nice to be acknowledge in battle.

A bullet grazed the railing of the booth when she broke cover, the wood veering the bullet high enough to miss Eclipse’s right shoulder and ear. Ideally, she wasn’t supposed to get spotted, but since she and DaCosta had made the first shots, it was to be expected. She was just careless. Team B was supposed to be taking out the men on the main floor, but she hadn’t seen where the shot had come from. Gunfire was continuing from down below, so concentrating on sound was out of the question. Even the radio frequency was filled with random battle noises and some vague commands. It was hard to separate them all. One voice, though, she would always recognize: DaCosta. His cursing was faint, but as soon as she risked another look over the railing to the other side of the theater, she understood his distress. 

One of the enemy had gone up to his booth, probably figuring out his position as soon as DaCosta had killed the man by the stage. They were struggling over a gun, but whose it was, Eclipse didn’t know. From what she could tell, every one of their suited enemies was armed, so either DaCosta had unarmed the man, or he was about to get a bullet in the stomach. The gun went off twice as Eclipse got into position, one bullet hitting someone on the theater floor if the cry was any indication.

Cursing, the redhead took aim, knowing she would have to make herself pretty open to make an accurate shot. She rested her wrists and the butt of her pistol on the railing, crouching down and following the movements of the struggling men across from her. “Lieutenant, turn him towards the railing!” she shouted into her radio. There was no vocal response, but DaCosta’s struggling started to gain an objective. The enemy’s body was in her line of fire for a moment, but it wasn’t long enough for a good shot and DaCosta’s movements had cost him, forcing him to lose the upper hand in order to give her the open shot. “Shit!”

Another—one of the last, she presumed—enemy on the floor noticed the struggling men from his spot behind a theater seat. Taking aim, he was waiting for much the same opportunity as Eclipse. With another curse, the redhead adjusted her target and fired. A bullet came from behind her and hit the railing near her right hand at the same time she shot, sending her bullet a little to the left. The man on the theater floor still crumpled, however, her shot wedged in his left shoulder. Aiming again, she risked one more go and hit his neck just as she heard the gun go off again in DaCosta’s booth. Her heart skipped but she didn’t have time to see the outcome of that duel.

Instinct and intuition took over next, as the redhead ducked low and turned her back to the railing just in time to see a black-suited man in the doorway to the box seat. The man had shot as she turned, but missed when Eclipse ducked, the enemy too greedy in going for a head shot. Bringing up her gun, she fired a shot, but it had been rushed and it went wide. The man ducked behind the doorframe and Eclipse—who had ended up in the corner with her left side at the wall and her back still against the railing—scrambled to her right and forward towards the door.

The enemy reached around the frame and fired a blind shot, but barely missed, his angle not sharp enough and the bullet going through the baggy shirt of her uniform. Eclipse grabbed his arm before it could retreat back behind the doorframe and pulled the man towards her through the door. Not expecting the move, he was off balance and falling forward, giving Eclipse just enough leeway to line his elbow up on her knee and break it at the joint. The man yelled when the arm loosened in her grip and was instantly dazed. He stumbled backwards down the step, flailing and coming to just in time to reach out with his left hand and catch Eclipse by the shirt. Cursing, the redhead put a bullet through his hand, dislodged the grip, and watched as he tumbled down the steps.

The fighting stopped soon after, Eclipse instantly getting to her feet and look across the way for DaCosta. They made brief eye contact before he began running down the stairs and she sighed, glad to see he was the victor in his squabble. The redhead ventured back down the stairs as soon as she made sure the room was clear, stopping briefly to check the state the unfortunate man who had attempted to get the best of her. The awkward angle of his neck gave her the quick answer, but she checked for a pulse anyway, sighing when she felt nothing.

Walking out into the main seating area, she did a quick check of the room, noticing only two injured from the Clyne Faction and at least two of suited men were in ropes at the back of the room. Good, mission accomplished.

She turned to the stage next, hoisting herself up when she saw Lacus was attempting to have a few last words with Athrun and the impatient DaCosta standing next to her. So far, only the greencoat was the one to notice her movement onto the stage and they locked sights, but she didn’t back down under his warning gaze. Whether Athrun had sent her to those mad scientists or not, she was going to talk to him. 

“Ready, Miss Lacus?” DaCosta asked after a sigh, returning his attention to his real charge.

The girl nodded, turning to Athrun one last time and smiling. “Thank you so much, Athrun.”

“Are you finished here, Miss Lacus? I think it’s time _we_ got going as well.”

She nodded. “Goodbye, Athrun. Thank you again for bringing my dear Pink back to me.” Holding the ball up to her face, she smiled again before her face went uncharacteristically serious. “You’ll find Kira on Earth. I suggest you have a talk with him. He _is_ your friend.” Turning to DaCosta, her grin appeared again, not even waiting for Athrun to respond before she squared up to leave. “Shall we get going then?” The greencoat nodded and turned to one of his team members beside him, pointing off to the back of the stage. The soldier nodded and ran off, two others following behind him. While the theater was most likely cleared, DaCosta wasn’t about to take any chances with Lacus in tow.

“Lexi—” the greencoat began, but Eclipse held up a hand, silencing his final attempt at getting her to leave. Sighing, DaCosta just gave in and ushered Lacus out of the building. He could only take care of one stubborn female at a time.

Eclipse turned to Athrun and watched him carefully, waiting until the others were gone before she started speaking. She really didn’t care about the privacy, more like making sure the group escaped without anymore incident. Athrun had seen her, but hadn’t said anything yet, possibly listening for the same “All clear.” The confusion was evident on his face and she started feeling bad for him again, knowing this entire experience was probably one surprise after another. As soon as no alarm sounded through the radio, she sighed and switched the safety on her gun. “So, what’re you going to do?”

“Lexi? You’re Lexi now?” he asked, avoiding her initial question. Perhaps he didn’t have a really good answer just yet. “And what are _you_ doing here?”

“More like I’m Lexi _again_ ,” she corrected, ignoring the other half of his questioning. Apparently, she didn’t really have any good answers for him just yet either. “Well, sort of. I’m still getting used to the idea.”

“You and me both,” he replied, putting a hand to his forehead and plopping down onto the stage. Eclipse jumped forward as he fell—thinking he was injured—but he held up a hand to stop her and took a deep breath. Collecting himself, he flipped the safety on his handgun and set it on the floor next to him. “Kira’s alive.”

“I know.”

“And back on Earth.”

"Uh-huh.”

“But I killed him.”

“I thought so too.”

Athrun sighed, bending his legs and running a frustrated hand through his hair. “I don’t believe it.”

“What, that you killed him or that he’s alive?”

“Both, I guess.”

“Why?”

“Why?” he repeated. “Eclipse, you _saw_ what happened! How the _hell_ did he survive?”

“You don’t sound too happy about it,” she commented, walking over and sitting down in front of him. Stretching out her legs, she crossed her ankles and leaned back on her palms, the gun resting off to her right. When he didn’t answer, she continued. “You don’t believe her? Or is it you’re afraid to see him then? Is that why you aren’t rushing to Earth?”

“It’s not that simple. I mean, why would I just rush off after everything that’s happened? That is _happening_? I can’t just leave the mili—” He stopped, biting his tongue as he recalled Lacus’s words. What _was_ keeping him around? His father? Someone whom he barely knew anymore?

“Why not?” she asked and, much like it had with Lacus, it sounded so simple when the words came out of her mouth. Was he the only one hesitating? What had he missed when he was in hospital? What was this new resolve everyone seemed to have? Cursing, he looked away, not having an answer for her loaded question and he shook his head.

They sat in silence for a while, the familiarity of the moment almost alarming given the amount of time that had passed since they had been in the same room. The last time he had talked to her, she had been given new orders to return to space, but, somehow, he doubted she had been stationed with Lacus of all people. It made no sense.

“What are you doing with Lacus?” he finally asked.

Sighing, Eclipse leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. She didn’t want to give out a lot of information because no matter how much she trusted him, Waltfeld and DaCosta were skeptical. She would never betray their trust and, after the greencoat’s explanation, she was wary, even if only a little. So, what could she actually tell him?

“Eclipse, you look exhausted. What’s been happening?”

She sighed again before bringing her head back down to eye level. “A lot’s happened, Athrun. You heard the gist of it already.”

“Aren’t you going to fill me in on the rest then?”

“That depends, what do you plan on doing?”

Athrun figured she was going to come back around to his problems, but still didn’t have an honest answer for her. “I don’t know,” he said, hanging his head. “I’ve been a ZAFT soldier for the past three years and—well—my mother was killed because of the Earth Forces so I have to stay—”

“You _have_ to?” Eclipse responded. “Tell me, what good does more fighting do? Do you seen an end to this war? I don’t.”

“So—what then? Are _you_ just going to run away from it all? Pretend that you were never part of it?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.”

“Am I?” Athrun pressed, holding his right hand out to the side as he continued. “Out of our whole team, Eclipse, you were the one I could never understand. You took orders without question, but you acted like the only loyalty you had was to yourself, not ZAFT, and I was so sure I would just wake up one morning and you would be gone. But that never happened. You even ran off to deal with SIN-ED and then always came back. It wasn’t until Orb that I honestly started believing you thought of us as your teammates and then watching the how we all started treating each other? I believed we were all on the same page—finally. Things fell apart swiftly after that, but you still stayed. You were still with ZAFT.” He pointed at her to accent his point and she frowned, feeling herself starting to get angry at his assessments. “But now you’re here and with Lacus! An apparent traitor to ZAFT itself!”

“You don’t know anything about it!” Eclipse spat, her fury coming out in a burst. “You don’t know what ZAFT did—I was—” She stopped, closing her eyes and looking away as she took some steadying breaths. No, it wasn’t the right time to bring up DaCosta’s accusation. Cursing, she opened her mouth to form a better answer for him, but it was as if her mind had already shaped one for her and the words tumbled from her lips before she could even digest them. “I’m going back to Orb.”

They both paused, Athrun seemingly just as surprised as Eclipse who was staring wide-eyed at her feet. 

“Orb?” he asked.

Taking a second, she actually thought about it. Orb. Where else could she go? Wasn’t she supposed to be Lexi Rymyr again? What better place to start over being herself than at home? Home. Could that place really be considered home anymore? Did she have a choice? Well, she could stay with the Clyne Faction, but would that solve anything? For the most part, she would just sit around all day trying to keep Lacus safe. That wasn’t a bad thing necessarily, but it didn’t seem like something she should be doing at that time. What should she be doing then? Going after SIN-ED? But where were they?

“Yes,” she responded after a moment. Maybe it was time she faced her past after all. “I’m going back to Orb.”

Athrun hesitated. “Why?”

“I have some things to figure out, and starting over might be my only option.”

The elite sighed, running a nervous hand through his hair again. “Back to Orb?”

The redhead nodded, more confident in her decision. “Back to Orb.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (***)
> 
> Song: "Mizu no Akashi"
> 
> Singer: Tanaka Rie
> 
> Composer: Kajiura Yuki
> 
> Writer: Kajiura Yuki
> 
> Personal Notes: I take no credit for this song whatsoever. I do not own it, nor do I own any part of it. It is an insert song for Gundam SEED and as such I felt it okay to put in the story. Since music is a main theme for this story, having the songs from the series worked well for both the plot and characterization. There will be more songs in the future for those same reasons.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Strata-Assassin
> 
> \------------------
> 
> A quick and heartfelt thank you to those who have stopped in to read. I had had ambitious plans of adding an entirely new section to this with Siegel Clyne, but ended up not doing it, in the end, life butting in and creeping into my writing time. Maybe I'll put it in someday, but I hope you like this chapter nonetheless. 
> 
> The famous theater scene was in this chapter and another, solid reminder that the English translation seems to have a lot of moments when characters just... say each others names... It happens even more from here on out, so you have been warned... 
> 
> Other than that, pretty straightforward edit. I added some more interactions with Lacus and extended the scenes between her and Eclipse. I brushed up the theater gun fight as well, but didn't add any more action, just tried to make motions a bit clearer. 
> 
> Anyway, back to Orb in the next chapter. Woohoo! We're starting the "favorite" chapters of SEED so be prepared for even more MS fights, a lot of Berserker drama, some new faces, and some old allies. A lot still in store, so I hope you'll stick around.
> 
> Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy lives to have a read. Take care and I'll see you next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	40. Leaving Home to Go Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse finally returns to Orb as Lexi Rymyr.

Leaving Home to Go Home

The Stealth was just as she had left it, in pristine condition with an added layer of dust. She had heard they had tried finding a new pilot for the suit, but no one was able to step inside the suit let alone get it running. Apparently, they couldn’t get the cockpit open. Even brute force ended in failure. Staring up at her suit, she smirked. The two of them shared more things in common than anyone had anticipated. Basic stubbornness being only one of those things. After that plan had failed, the military had decided to scrap it for extra parts. Commander Waltfeld had snagged the suit before that could happen and had it stored in the _Eternal_ until there was need for it. If anything, the HiMat wings could be scrapped and used as a backup pair for the Freedom, so Waltfeld’s superiors hadn’t argued against his decision.

Bringing her finger up to her right ear, Eclipse started to press it inside, but then stopped when she felt only cotton. Frowning, she dropped her hand back to her side. She had forgotten the earpiece had been torn out. _Figures,_ she thought, a shiver running down her spine when the echo of the sharp pain raced across her memory.

“Cold?” a familiar voice asked, causing Eclipse to turn around and face the newcomer. At first she thought it was DaCosta, coming to tell her it was okay for her to board the machine and hide in there until the _Eternal_ started its military exercise. But instead of the familiar green coat and red hair, she saw a red uniform and orange hair. 

“Heine.” She smiled. “Is this another one of our meet cutes?”

“Apparently,” he said with a laugh. “You know you and I never meet like normal people,” he remarked, walking to her side. “You look surprised to see me. I _did_ tell you I was assigned to this pink monstrosity, didn’t I?”

Pausing, she tried to figure out what he meant by the statement, but soon chuckled quietly. The _Eternal_ was pink; there was just no other color it could be called. Why the military decided on that color, she had no idea. She had planned on asking Commander Waltfeld, but never got around to it. “Now I remember. Lucky you.”

“Yes, lucky me,” he mused, turning to look at the Stealth. Eclipse watched him then, noticing how he composed himself. He was calmer, a little less animated. Part of her was sad about that but another part of her liked the changed, realizing he had grown up a little bit. “So, I almost painted the Stealth orange and blue. Complementary colors, ya know. I just wanted to make it—uh—make it,” he paused, searching for the right word, “pop!”

Or maybe he hadn’t changed as much as she had thought.

Instead of being exhausted like she normally would have, she snorted and tried to hold back a laugh, but failed. “Thank goodness you _didn’t_!”

“Why not?” he asked, matching her smile. “There has to be _some_ way for you to remember me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stopping her laughter, she turned towards him. He was looking at her suit again with a frown now on his face. _It looks too unnatural there_ , she thought. “Heine?”

“DaCosta told me you’re heading back to Orb.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I guess there’s no other place for me to go, huh?”

“No other place? Why can’t you stay here? After all, your suit seems to enjoy this corner here.”

“If I stayed here, ZAFT would just use me again—Hell, I’m not even part of the military anymore. Aren’t all of your guys against me being used?”

“Sure, but I didn’t say rejoin ZAFT.”

She just sighed, knowing what he was probably hinting at some peaceful life in the PLANTs, but not wanting to walk down that road. She knew she would be taken care of if she stayed in space, but—ultimately—she wanted to avoid that. She had to start standing on her own feet if she wanted to figure out what the hell was going to become of her. Opening her mouth, she was about to make some lame excuse, but Heine cut her off by changing the subject.

“You wanna know something though?” he asked, the seriousness in his voice turning Eclipse’s head back in his direction. “I’ve been thinking about it lately and it’s probably a good thing you’re leaving, even if I don’t understand why.”

"And why’s that?”

“There’s a warrant out for your arrest.” That surprised her and her face said as much. Staring wide-eyed at him, she nearly started yelling when he childishly poked her in the forehead. “Relax though,” he continued. “It’s out for Lunar Eclipse and not Lexi Rymyr.”

“Wouldn’t both names be on it?”

“You would think, but remember, Lexi Rymyr has familial connections to one of the five families in the Orb government. They state on the warrant you’re wanted for deserting in the line of duty and, since Lunar Eclipse was the one listed in the ZAFT military and not Lexi Rymyr, there could be some political disputes if you were ever caught. Fighting with a neutral nation doesn’t exactly get you brownie points with the people.”

“That still doesn’t mean I’m safe.”

“How many people actually know you?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. “Besides, there’s a _long_ list of deserters that’s accumulated over the years. Even if you’re given top priority, there isn’t much that can be done. There’s still a war going on, remember?”

“And that has a tendency to trump everything else,” Eclipse added, feeling a bit better about her criminal status.

“Even if the war _was_ to end, you would still be safe if you stayed in Orb. At least you might be able to hide better there under your real name. I don’t see the ZAFT military announcing its direct connections to SIN-ED and the Januarias 4 facility any time soon.”

She smiled then, glad to hear she might be able to leave her old life behind. Well, at least for a while. There were way too many questions for her to forget it entirely. “So, what’re you gonna do now? I hear your precious Freedom was stolen, so where they stickin’ ya? Radar duty? Intelligence again?” She smiled as she spoke, mostly mocking him and his bad fortune, but when she saw the straight line his lips made, she started getting nervous. “Heine? I-I’m sorry—“

“I’m still being assigned a unit and I’m transferring to the Hawkins Team.”

Eclipse blinked, still noticing the grim look on his face. When he had told her about the Freedom, he was ecstatic, but now he looked, “Hesitant.”

“Huh?”

“You seem so much different than when I met you before. Why the change?”

He shrugged. “I think losing the Freedom and finding out a little of what had happened to you seemed like some kind of sign.”

“A sign?”

“Something like I’m getting too old for this shit.”

Eclipse laughed and patted his shoulder. “You’re only a couple years older than I am and at least ten years younger than half of our superiors.” He only smiled in return, that look alone making her feel a bit better. Turning away, he stared up at the Stealth. Eclipse opened her mouth to speak again, but then closed it. She almost told him about the Clyne Faction, figuring he didn’t already know anything. He seemed to have come to the same realization most of them had already made but—given his position in the military and his authority as a redcoat—there really wasn’t much he could do without the Faction’s help. He could try to make some changes on the battlefield, but his choices were limited. 

In the end, he would probably always choose his own survival.

The Clyne Faction might be what he had been seeking, so shouldn’t she say something? After all, they always needed more members. Still, she hesitated, not wanting to spill anything she shouldn’t and then leave without being able to help clean up the consequences. She trusted Heine, but the Clyne Faction was in such a delicate position at the moment. The only reason she was so quickly introduced was probably because she—technically—didn’t exist anymore.

“You okay?” he asked, leaning his head down in front of her gaze to grab her attention. Apparently, she had been staring at the Stealth as well.

“Just thinking,” she responded. “Don’t worry about me so much.”

“Hah,” was all he said, pushing her shoulder. It was a childish move, but she had to laugh. Their conversation had revolved around cheering each other up so far and not much more than that. They were both hiding something—she could tell that merely by how reserved he was—but neither of them were willing to share what was really on their minds. Maybe they didn’t understand, maybe they just didn’t want to burden the other person, or maybe they just didn’t want to talk about it, choosing a brief silence instead of soiling the goodbye with depressing thoughts.

“I guess I should let you go,” he said after a moment. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Don’t you mean don’t do anything you _would_ do?” Eclipse replied, a little surprised by his sudden departure, but having the feeling she shouldn’t stop him.

“That too.”

“Hey, I promise we can meet like normal people as soon as the war is over,” she said quickly, a part of her not wanting to leave on such a bleak note. “Deal?”

“Oh?” His face brightened and she felt her lips dip into a frown at the mischievous glint in his eye. “My dear Lexi, is that a date?”

“Cute,” she rolled her eyes, and shook her head, leaning on one leg as her hands braced on her hips. “It was just a promise to avoid these random, in-the-middle-of-a-war meetings and act like normal people for a change.”

“Normal, huh?” He put his fingers to his chin, stroking his skin thoughtfully as his other hand went to his hip. “Now _that’s_ incentive to live.”

She smiled and pushed him much like he had pushed her, their mutual laughter lasting only a few moments before he put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. It seemed so strange and reserved that her first reaction after confusion was anger.

He didn’t seem to notice, however, saying a simple, “I’ll see you again, Lexi,” before starting his trek back to the _Eternal_ interior.

Despite their bantering, his tone betrayed the words and she felt herself start to panic. For the first time, he didn’t sound confident, as if he didn’t think he would survive the war at all. There was a possibility, he had seen the escalation on both sides and had probably understood his impending role in that. Perhaps even Heine was feeling the weight of his own humanity.

Turning, she yelled his name before he could get too far. He stopped and pivoted back to her, the abruptness of the twist making her hesitate for a moment. “Stay safe,” she said, meaning every word, but feeling cheated by them as well. However, he seemed to understand.

He always did.

“You too—and I mean it, you know,” he continued, turning away again with a smile and waving an arm above his head. “Whether you like it or not, I’m sure we’ll see each other again. If you see Lathan before I do, say hello from me!” he added before he rounded the corner and disappeared.

“Whether I like it or not, huh?” she mused, turning back to her machine. “I guess we have no choice but to survive then, right Coffee Addict?” She didn’t expect an answer but was happy still to know she had something to look forward to.

* * *

“Stealth, ready to go?” DaCosta asked over the radio. He was using the line from the bridge, and since the _Eternal_ was on a routine military exercise, the crewmembers picked for the ship were all from the Clyne Faction. Really it was just a lucky draw, but Eclipse had been more than thankful for the added assurance.

“Affirmative, bridge. Mirage Colloid initiated and the Stealth is in the starboard airlock as planned.” There was a pause on the other end, making Eclipse a bit nervous. With the Colloid active, the plan was for her just to slip out of the side hatch during the exercise. Seeing as it was only scrap metal, they figured her escape would be relatively easy especially after DaCosta had started the rumor it had been fully disabled for parts earlier that day. So far, it was catching on.

“Bridge?” she asked over the transmission, feeling the sweat gather in her palm and dissolve into her red pilot suit. If she was forced to fight her way back to Earth, she wouldn’t stand a chance. One suit against an entire army was never good odds and since she had no ammo, the battle would have gotten really ugly and fast. And evoking the Berserker seemed too rash to say the least. “DaCosta—”

“All clear, Stealth,” Waltfeld said instead of his second-in-command. The deep voice actually startled her for a moment, thinking the commander was too involved with the exercise to have one last word with her. “You can commence in approximately six minutes.” He paused and started talking again before Eclipse could confirm the information. “You’re _really_ sure about this?”

She sighed. Waltfeld had been hesitant to let her leave the moment she had sprouted the idea on him three days ago. The timing couldn’t have been worse either since Lacus and her father had been officially declared traitors about a half hour after Eclipse shared her news. Since then, Waltfeld and DaCosta had been trying to talk her out of it, but for the first time in her life she was going to stick with the decision _she_ made on her own. No more orders.

“Yes, Commander, I’m sure. If you ever need me—”

“You’re a call away, I know,” he finished, sounding disappointed in her decision. Eclipse had to smile though. She was glad there was someone who honestly cared about her safety. “Four more minutes, Stealth. Don’t miss the drop time. Waltfeld out.”

“Thanks, Commander,”

“Good luck, Lexi.”

There was some rustling and DaCosta was back on the line. “If everything goes as planned, you’ll be arriving in Orb at roughly 0900 their time.” He paused. “Keep safe, Lexi, and don’t do anything reckless.” She could hear the sincerity in his voice and she was touched. Maybe she really shouldn’t be leaving.

“But I always do reckless things,” she joked, clearing her throat as it croaked a little from emotion. It was tougher to leave space than she had thought, and she had yet to even attempt atmospheric reentry. There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line and she gave a shaky laugh. “I’ll be fine.”

“Just follow the reentry path we programmed into the Stealth. Good luck, Lexi.”

“Everyone seems to think I need luck or something.”

“You do.” She laughed abruptly, barely hearing his final transmission of “DaCosta out.”

It felt strange how invested she had become in other people all of a sudden. The time when Stray and FS were her only friends seemed like years ago and listening to the deafening silence in her mobile suit only helped accent her loneliness in that moment. Her new attachments came with a price, however, especially when it concerned the Clyne Faction.

There was no guarantee they would survive.

Taking a deep breath, she stared at the counter on the screen in front of her and waited for it to reach zero. Pushing the left lever forward, Eclipse carefully fingered in the code on the panel beside the hatch. There was a loud click and the door opened, falling downward slowly as the trapped oxygen was sucked outside. Looking up and over to her right, she stared at the red emergency light, hoping no one touched the controls after she had altered the wiring. If she had done it right, the sensor should be disabled and the alarm wouldn’t start going off until the hatch had opened all the way. She planned on shorting the system long before then so—technically—it would start going off long after she was clear of the _Eternal_. 

The hatch had fallen halfway when Eclipse pulled up the Stealth’s operating system to double check the Scylla output in the left hand. Finding the electric output still low, she put the Stealth’s hand on the control box and fired. After a loud pop and some fizzling, she pulled the hand away and watched as the hatch stopped. _Here we go_ , she thought and guided the machine through the gap and out into space. The _Eternal_ made a sharp turn away from her position as soon as she was clear and Eclipse couldn’t help but take a moment to watch it. “Things are going to be a bit different now,” she said, mainly talking to herself, but when the screen in front of her flashed, “No shit,” she laughed. After all that time, it was good to know her suit hadn’t lost its sense of humor.

* * *

Eclipse should have felt more comfortable with atmospheric reentry that time around, knowing the Stealth could actually handle the abuse. Previously, she had survived on a prayer and a robust genetic makeup, but now she had the proper equipment and she unhitched the shielding from the Stealth’s back as soon it lined up according to the coordinates on her reentry plan. The idea of doing this alone hadn’t bothered her when she had been in the safety of the apartment—and she even remembered laughing it off to a fairly unamused DaCosta and Waltfeld—but now, as the timer ticked down in the corner of her screen and her eyes scanned the surface of the vast, blue planet in front of her, she gulped.

“You’re with me on this, right Addict?” she asked, her breath reverberating off the glass of her helmet. “You won’t ever abandon me?” With the earpiece most likely in some ZAFT scrapheap by now, she didn’t expect to hear the familiar alto and in that moment she didn’t, a sentence flashing up on the screen as it had done before.

“The feeling of ‘loyalty’ seems to be in the next patch of upgrades. I advise you don’t begin relying on it now.” Eclipse rolled her eyes and laughed despite her nerves.

The Earth was beautiful as it slowly rotated down below, the hypnotic scene doing little to calm the pulse in her throat. Its blue waters, white whisps of clouds, and strangely beautiful landmasses rotated so slowly she couldn’t witness the movement, but her suit knew the speed of each turn. The number flashed under the timer to her left as her eyes narrowed, focusing on the Pacific Ocean and knowing her destination was somewhere under that white mass of clouds across her radar. Just north of the Oceania Union and east of the Equatorial Union sat the place she knew the most about and yet wanted the least to do with.

Orb.

The Land of Peace.

“Peace, my ass,” she muttered, finding the statement unfair and yet that small surge of anger had quelled the churning in her stomach, even if only for a moment. The timer hit the one-minute mark and the redhead did her final checks, taking a breath and beginning her descent as soon as she was ordered.

“Addict, keep an eye on the angle,” she said and locked the Stealth’s arms and shields in front of her unit as she felt the gravity begin to take over, the controls shaking with the effort of trying to wrestle the impossible. Eclipse’s eyes darted around the cockpit and she reached over to grab the keyboard to bring up the diagnostics. She trusted the engineers and mechanics of her past teams but hearing the specs and living out their durability were two different matters. If she was going to end up burning into popcorn, she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

The silence in her cockpit was gone by that time, the sweet bliss of space replaced with the sound of rushing flames outside of her suit and the unfamiliar creaking of the Stealth’s armor as she saw an alert from Addict telling her it was adjusting the angle.

“So far, so good,” the CA wrote a minute later and Eclipse took a breath, a drop of sweat slowly coursing down the back of her neck.

 _Gravity again—Earth again,_ she thought and finally forced herself to lean back in the cockpit, closing her eyes as she tried to steady herself against the rocking. _Orb again…_

“Addict, let me know when we enter Orb airspace.”

“Roger that,” the words flashed, Eclipse opening one eye to read the text. “Though, I’m sure you’ll know when I know.”

Eclipse sighed and took another breath. _Somehow, it feels like I’m leaving home instead of returning to it._

* * *

Getting into Orb’s airspace wasn’t as easy as she had thought it might be, especially when Eclipse considered the fact that she was in a mobile suit attempting to land in the territory without and kind of clearance code. She had given every indication that she had come in peace, but the best reply she could get was being directed off to one of the uninhabited islands near the northern side of the main island.

She landed and took a breath, powering down the Stealth as she unbuckled and opened the cockpit, holding out her arms.

“Get out of the machine!”

Keeping her hands up as much as she could, she climbed out onto the front of the Stealth and grabbed the zip chord, staring at the ground as she neared. They had directed her to the open area near a beach, one helicopter on the sand with its blades churning slowly and another in the air. To her right was jungle and a high rockface, the feeling of being backed into a corner evident in that moment.

“Keep your hands up!” the same voice ordered, his tone sharper that time around.

She made eye contact as soon as her feet touched the dirt, putting her hands back into the air hear her head. Three military-grade automatics were aimed at her upper torso, the handles resting steadily in their cradles near the sides of three Orb soldiers in white uniform, their various ranks adorning their upper left breast.

“Remove your helmet!”

Sighing, her hands did just that, her fingers slipping under her chin to unhook the clip there and pull the red helmet off, the first breath of fresh, ocean air filling her lungs with more nostalgia than she had cared to admit.

“State your name.”

“My name’s Lunar Ec—“ She stopped herself and sighed. It was about time she got used to saying her name again. “Lexi Rymyr.”

“Rymyr?” the same man asked, Eclipse watching the aim of the soldier to his right faltering as he turned to his colleague. No doubt that name had raised quite a few flags.

The speaker ordered one of his men to call in the name, his gaze never leaving Eclipse’s as he did. He was older than the rest of his team, his greying hair and suspicious brown eyes making her tense with the amount of veteran experience he most likely had. She didn’t recognize him, which was a brief reminder that her time away had lasted longer than it felt. A man of his rank would have been a common addition to any family gathering she might have attended.

“I’m unarmed,” she said slowly, clipping her helmet at her waist and putting her arms up once more.

Nodding to the remaining soldier nearby, the older man pointed to Eclipse and the younger soldier walked over, twisting his weapon across his back and patting her down as they waited for their transmission to be returned.

The wait, thankfully, didn’t take long, no doubt the announcement of an unidentified mobile suit entering the airspace having already primed the base for possible contact. “They’re wondering if they should send backup,” the soldier explained.

The leader hesitated for a moment, still looking at Eclipse as if he either didn’t completely believe the name she had given him, or he believed her so much he couldn’t believe himself. Finally, he spoke. “Negative. Tell them we’re bringing the pilot back with us.”

“Roger that.”

Eclipse sighed and felt her muscles begin to relax. Sure, it wasn’t _great_ news, but she was at least one step closer to proving her identity. _But then what?_ she asked herself. She got to Orb like she had planned but now what the hell was she going to do? _I sounded so much surer of myself when I was talking to Athrun and Heine._

They shuffled her into the waiting military helicopter, forcing her to sit between two of the three Orb soldiers and across from the older officer. He narrowed his eyes at her as she replaced her helmet and they put on theirs, but if his gaze meant anything other than suspicion, she didn’t know. She grinned before slipping her helmet over her head and his emotion changed from suspicion to surprise and then o anger, as if annoyed at her antics. The look was so intense—and she felt as if he was getting a bit too personal with his stare—she looked away and out the side just as the helicopter took off.

It didn’t take long to get to the main island. When they landed, Eclipse was shuffled out onto the cement and immediately had guns on her back again as soon as her helmet was off and clipped back to her side. Deciding not to make things worse for herself this time, she stayed silent and followed where they pointed. 

“You said over the radio you had Lexi _Rymyr_? Is that true?” an older soldier asked, running up to the group as soon as they were clear of the helicopter. No one replied and the man walked beside them, glancing every now and again back at Eclipse. Gradually, she became embarrassed, not liking all the attention. She had gone from no one taking a second look at her to people purposefully staring at her. _It’s like I never left_ , she thought with a sigh, realizing the moment a couple more older soldiers ran up to the group that it was even worse than before. Either that or she had been too involved in herself to register what had been going on. _I wonder if it’s still like this for Cags_.

“Colonel Kisaka,” she heard one of the soldiers say. Her mind—still lost in thought—hadn’t realized they had stopped until she nearly ran into the man in front of her. Backing up a couple of inches, she saw the soldiers salute. “Sir.”

“What happened? Who’s this?” The voice was deep and crisp, but not without the hint of warmth Eclipse had remembered from all those years ago. She couldn’t see the colonel because the soldiers were blocking her view, but she still felt his presence; the commanding guardian she had come to respect and the same man she had come to betray by leaving without even writing a letter. Cringing, she looked in the other direction.

“Sir, an unknown mobile suit flew into our airspace about 0900 hours and we directed it over to Farfane Island. The pilot made no motion to attack and we have her here with us now.”

“Her? The chatter is true then?”

Eclipse looked up at the soldier talking, seeing him lean forward to whisper to the Colonel. “We brought her here to have you confirm that, sir.”

Eclipse watched a firm hand grasp the man’s shoulder and pull him aside, revealing a tall man with darker skin and a shadow that towered Eclipse, making her feel even smaller than she had when she was little. His hair was the same shade of blue, surprising her since she expected him to have _some_ grey strands—especially since she figured he was still looking after Cagalli. “Who are you?” he asked.

“Lexi Rymyr,” she responded, avoiding his eyes. She was about to make some kind of quip about how if he couldn’t recognize her his eyesight must be failing, but she bit her lip, figuring that wasn’t the best time. The guns still jamming into her back definitely helped her keep her mouth shut. She felt Kisaka’s eyes checking her over carefully, but she still tried not to look into them. Glancing back and forth between the two soldiers at his sides, she stared at one a bit too long by accident and his forehead wrinkled in annoyance. Looking away, she decided to stare at her feet instead.

“Prove it,” Kisaka said after another moment.

Hesitating, she tried to remember something. Anything. But that was harder to do than she had anticipated. After repressing so many memories for so long, the last thing she wanted to do was unbury the nightmares.

“Speak.”

She sighed, thinking of something, but it wasn’t going to make Kisaka look good. “When I was about five, the princess Cagalli and I snuck under the fence of the main estate. Our parents were away on a two-day conference to the Kingdom of Scandinavia. You,” she pointed at Kisaka, “were in charge. We were lost—well, we hid on the property for four hours.”

Everyone was silent as she explained, but as soon as she was done, two of the soldiers covered up smiles and one of them behind her whistled quietly. Kisaka, however, must not have been as amused. “Look at me.”

 _No,_ she thought and almost said it out loud. Hell, she wanted to. Instead, she slowly turned her eyes upward and met his gaze, gradually gaining more confidence as she stared. Now those were _exactly_ like she had remembered. Judgmental, strict, demanding, and—most of all—the gentle eyes of a parent who always understood more than he should have. Eclipse had been scolded so many times by that man and each time she had been scared shitless. Now, she could finally match that look. Either that was a positive thing on her part, or it was a bad thing. After all, if her childhood bodyguard and babysitter couldn’t scare her anymore, nothing could.

“Kisaka! Is it true?” Eclipse recognized the voice immediately and even though it had matured over the years, there was no mistaking that tone. Her eyes widened as she heard footsteps running in their direction and her breath stopped when she saw a pale hand grip the colonel’s elbow. “Is Lexi really—” She stopped and turned then, probably seeing Eclipse’s red coat and red hair out of the corner of her eye. Cagalli’s mouth dropped as her expression shifted from hopeful to utter surprise. She was wearing a white uniform similar to the other officers around her, but opposite to Kisaka’s purple and black one. There were insignias and badges of prestige Eclipse had never thought she would see grace the breast of her second cousin, and ones she knew were only reserved for either members of the government or those close enough to they could wear the attire. No matter what she wore, however, this was still Cagalli, her blonde hair just to her shoulders and her accusatory golden eyes showing a level of surprise Eclipse hadn’t expected. Anger, maybe, but not shock.

For a couple of seconds, they just stared at each other, neither one having the breath to initiate a conversation or even to say the smallest of greeting. The first sign of motion was when the blonde’s eyes started glistening with small tears.

“H-hey,” Eclipse said, offering a weak smile as well. Cagalli didn’t respond right away, her head bowing in a sort of defeated remorse, but when Eclipse saw her hands clench at her sides, her muscles tensed.

“Y-you little—” She didn’t finish, her hand coming up and around to try and smack Eclipse in the face. Such a quick attack would have worked when they were younger, but Eclipse had anticipated the assault and snagged her wrist just before her fingers could graze her cheek. The slap was just as loud, however, Eclipse’s palm connecting with Cagalli’s wrist with a smack that sounded almost threatening as it echoed off the surrounding buildings. The blonde’s eye widened in amazement for a moment before she swung her other hand around to try again. Eclipse ducked under that one, still holding onto her other arm. 

“Cags, I can explain—”

“You better as _hell_ explain! You and your brother just suddenly disappear and now you both come back to tell me that you’ve been with—with ZAFT?”

Eclipse blinked, watching Cagalli’s shoulders move up and down in rage and deep breaths. “Lathan’s here?”

“ _That’s_ the most important thing you picked from that?” Her voice screeched at the beginning of the sentence, telling Eclipse more about her anger than the words alone. Shit, she was pissed. “Listen when I’m yelling at you, damn it!”

“Oh, trust me, there’s no one here who _can’t_ help but hear your scolding.” Eclipse smirked and tightened her grip when the blonde tried to pull her hand free. Some things just never changed.

“Cagalli,” Kisaka said softly, trying to calm the Orb princess. 

But it was never that easy.

“I thought I was seeing things back in Banadiya, but here you are, dressed like that and flying in a mobile suit! What were you—why did you—how could—” She lost steam, her muscles relaxing in defeat and her shoulders slumped in exhaustion. The soldiers around them seemed to calm down as well, Eclipse hearing more than a couple thankful sighs.

She let go of Cagalli’s hand when she was sure she wouldn’t attack again. Seeing her so distressed, Eclipse almost said she was sorry, but bit her tongue. Her apology would have meant nothing and probably would have made her angry again. Besides, a sorry wasn’t going to change anything. All it could do was stir up old memories and emotions, not mend them like so many people thought it would. No, the bruises Eclipse had caused couldn’t be cured by the mere utterance of words. Hell, she wasn’t even sure time would stitch the wounds.

“Come, let’s go inside,” Kisaka suggested, pulling Cagalli along beside him. 

Eclipse waited a couple of seconds before following, listening to the whispers around her and feeling her own anger grow. “I guess that’s the _real_ Lexi Rymyr then.”

“Yeah,” another replied, “I can tell. It would’ve been a shame if the princess’s anger ended up killing her on her grand return though.” They laughed lightly at the comment and Eclipse scowled.

“No, it’s going to take more than a name change to bring back the old Lexi,” she muttered, only taking a step forward when a soldier nudged her after the others.

* * *

The next person she saw was Lord Uzumi, Cagalli’s father and more of an uncle to Eclipse than any other close relative with a similar title. It was ironic how things turned out sometimes because her uncle by birth was one of those people who enjoyed throwing his money around. The authoritative Lord Uzumi was closer to Eclipse’s temperament and she had come to respect him as she had grown up. He was a tall man with longer, greying hair to his shoulders and a stare even stricter than Kisaka’s. His mouth was neutral then as well, nearly buried in his full mustache and trimmed beard. Given his position in the Orb government, that was to be expected, but that look was more like something the former representative of Orb would reserve for Cagalli, not for her. 

Maybe that was why she felt so nervous. 

She had been offered a similar white uniform to Cagalli’s to change into, looking much like the blonde just without the ornaments at her breast. The nostalgia was strong and she just took a breath, staring at the three sitting around her at the table. No one had spoken yet even though they had all been standing in the boardroom for a couple of minutes. Like everyone else, Lord Uzumi seemed to be just as surprised to see her and just as speechless. Unlike the other soldiers, however, if he was going to open his mouth it was going to be more of a scolding nature than that of a happy welcome. Perhaps he and his daughter were more alike than she had realized. 

“Lexi.” She cringed. “I’m glad to see you’re safe.”

That was unexpected. Cracking open an eye she looked up just in time to watch him reach over and see his hand fall down on top of her head, forcing a blush from her cheeks. Her immediate reaction was to cower away, but she swallowed her pride and stood still. “We were all pretty worried when you and Lathan left, but it’s nice to see you both well.”

“Thank you,” she muttered. 

“And your parents will be overjoyed to see you as well.”

Eclipse instantly tensed, her muscles stiffening so much she began to shake. Her parents. _Oh, Halmeya, my parents._ After all of the commotion, her parents had been the last thing on her mind. Sure, she had talked about it a little bit with Waltfeld but—well—she was hoping she’d never get to see them. Futile effort, yes, but she was still wishing.

“I shall inform them immediately.”

“No—” she croaked, grabbing the cuff on his jacket as he was pulling away. But, after realizing how foolish she must have looked, she let it go and looked away.

“No?”

“Nevermind.”

“You don’t want to see them?”

“But, Lexi, they’ll be so excited to see you!” Cagalli said, only added kerosene to the fire. “They cried when they saw Lathan so they’ll be even happier to know that you’re—”

“A ZAFT pilot?” Eclipse cut in and the blonde bit her bottom lip, turning away after the comment. “Yes, I bet they’ll be overjoyed.”

“But you are safe,” Lord Uzumi said, putting a hand on the table. “For a parent, that trumps everything.”

“Even _my_ parents?” Eclipse asked, adding a little venom to the question. She loved her parents, but given her past, she wasn’t so sure they would willingly accept the fact that their daughter had become a killing machine.

“ _Any_ parent,” Lord Uzumi stressed, taking a sidelong glance over at Cagalli who looked away. “No matter what happened in the past, we are always happy to see our children safe.”

Eclipse had no response to that. Hell, what _could_ she say? She wasn’t a parent and even if she thought she knew differently from past experiences, there was that chance her folks had changed over the years. Albeit, a small chance, but it was still there. Perhaps that was what kept her from continuing the argument. Either way, Eclipse had to interact with them eventually. She could avoid it as long as she dared, but it all came down to whether or not she wanted to meet them on her terms or on theirs.

“Whatever the case, please let me be the one to contact them.”

“And how do we know you _will_ talk to them?” Kisaka asked, obviously knowing her better than she had anticipated.

“If you don’t hear of our meeting within forty-eight hours, you can tell them yourself. Until then, please stay out of it.” There was that desperation in her voice again and how Eclipse hated hearing it come out of her mouth. She sounded so pathetic. Not wanting to see her parents? It was as if she had digressed to a toddler all over again.

It took a moment, but Lord Uzumi eventually nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Is there anything you’d like to do now?” Cagalli asked. The tone of her voice made her sound eager to get out of the room. Perhaps that accusing glance from her father had given her the uncomfortable itch Eclipse was starting to feel.

“I’d like to get my suit, if you don’t mind.”

Kisaka and Lord Uzumi exchanged looks, making that itch grow in intensity. Instead of asking, however, she waited for one of them to respond. “Your suit will be under our supervision until you have need of it,” Kisaka explained.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“A ZAFT mobile suit flying around on its own will cause an uproar with the people. Not many know you’re back home let alone a mobile suit pilot. Now,” Lord Uzumi put up a hand when Eclipse opened her mouth to argue, “I understand we have done similar things in the past and you know you are always welcome in Orb, but we must take this precaution. The world’s at war and—as you probably know—we have an ex-Earth Alliance ship under our protection.”

Eclipse’s eyes went wide after that and her breath quickened. They had housed the _Archangel_ before, could it be that ship again? But he had said “ _ex-_ Alliance.” Why would they leave the military? And if it really was that ship, then that would mean the Strike pilot—

“I don’t think you are here because of that,” Lord Uzumi continued, cutting off her thoughts, “however, with so much going on, I can’t take that chance.”

Pausing, Eclipse waited for him to finish before putting the puzzle pieces together. If the ship really was the _Archangel_ , could she even stay in the same country without trying to destroy it? After everything her team had gone through because of that ship, was she willing to stand beside it? Beside _that pilot_? 

“Lexi, do you understand?”

She looked up at her uncle once again and nodded numbly, her mind fighting against personal duty and her duty to the greater good. Lacus was working right then to stop the war up in the PLANTs and Eclipse’s pride was wanting to keep it going down on Earth. That just couldn’t happen. Swallowing, she turned to Cagalli next. “Can I see Lathan now?”

The blonde seemed confused at first—probably by the sudden topic change—but eventually she nodded, turning to her father for confirmation only after she had agreed. Cagalli hadn’t changed much at all. Sure, deep down Eclipse could tell she had matured, but there were some quirks she would never get rid of, particularly her recklessness and stubbornness. It was nice to know there was something stable in Orb she could count on.

* * *

After the boardroom it was like a parade as she was led to one of the hangars. Cagalli had to do some asking around to find Eclipse’s brother, but as soon as she heard Lathan had been working on one of the new Orb’s new mobile suit models, the two girls were off. The only problem Eclipse really had with the parade was all the people coming over to see the “real” Lexi Rymyr. 

Damn, she was getting sick of Orb already.

Eclipse saw him first. Well, she saw his ass first. Sticking out of the cockpit of a greyed-out machine was the unmistakable backside of her older brother, swaying back and forth to the music wafting out from the suit. Leave it to him to install the music player before the main operating system. She knew it was him, there was just no other person it could be. Cagalli had said he had arrived roughly three weeks ago and—after taking some days to prove he was back in Orb for good—he had been allowed to start working on Orb’s new defense suits, the Astrays. So, there he was, the mechanical extraordinaire and Heine’s best friend, scratching his ass.

“Lathan!” Eclipse shouted, running closer to the machine. “Stop itching your hole and get down here to give your sister a hug!”

“Audrey, I told you to stop looking at—” He stopped, his mouth dropping in surprise and his hands flying into the air. “Lexi, by Joe, you’re alive!” Eclipse smiled at the expression and waited for the platform to hit the hanger floor before she jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Not ready for such an animate hello, he stumbled backwards a couple of inches. “Ah, my glasses!” She felt his arm reach over her shoulder to push them back up his nose, his short, strawberry blonde hair scratching across her cheek as he moved. He wrapped his arms around her back after the adjustment, squeezing her hard and swinging her about wildly. “Did you get my letter? Oh, I’m sure you did! And how about the CA system? Do you like it? Most of it was Heine’s idea, y’know.” He put her down on the ground and held her at arm’s length before scooping her up once again. “I’m so happy to see you _alive_!”

“Of course I’m alive, you twit,” she replied and patted his back so he would let her go. “You thought I’d die that easily? I’m offended.”

“You’re right, I practically made the Stealth indestructible.”

“You did _not._ ” She laughed, catching the sight of a waving Cagalli as she went to busy herself elsewhere. “Sure, it’s gone through a lot of scrapes and bruises, but I would _never_ say it was indestructible.”

“Aw, now I’m the one offended. And here I worked so hard on that too.” Sticking out his bottom lip, his eyebrows lowered in a pout, surprising Eclipse with how convincing it really was. She had never known her brother was capable of such persuasion, but there he was being just as animated as Heine. Awed, she shook her head and punched him lightly on the shoulder. She should have anticipated he would act a lot like that redcoat.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Thank you!” He smiled and pulled her into another hug, a more genuine one than the two before it. “Really though, sis, how’d the CA system work out?”

“Well,” she began, glancing behind her to see if anyone was near. They had given them some privacy—which was nice—Cagalli talking to a brown-haired mechanic and an older woman Eclipse recognized as Erica Simmons. She would say hello to her later. Turning back to her brother’s curious face, she sighed and pointed to the cotton ball in her right ear. “It was working great until an unfortunate run-in with some mad scientists.”

“My baby!” Lathan yelled, cupping her face in his hands and twisting her head so that he could get a better look at her damaged ear. Somehow, Eclipse didn’t think the “baby” comment was for her.

“Ouch!”

“Where did it go? Helmaya’s balls, if someone else got their hand on that technology—Lexi you were supposed to take _great_ care of it! I-I trusted you!”

“Did you miss the part—ow, damn it!” She slapped his hands away. “Did you miss the part about mad scientists?”

He paused, his face slowly twisting from panic down to an angry kind of seriousness. “What do you mean?”

Eclipse looked around again and put two hands on his shoulders. “Can we talk about this somewhere else?”

“Uh, yeah. I have a small work office here.” Grabbing one of her wrists, he pulled her back behind the machine he was working on and down to one of the far doors. Eclipse offered up a quick wave to Cagalli—she hoped she saw it—and let Lathan drag her outside and over to a small building just outside the hangar. Stopping at the door, he entered a code and they walked inside. 

It looked like a smaller dormitory, a common room with a table, chairs, and a kitchen off to their right with about six rooms branching off from it, each with their own door and separate key code. Walking down to the farthest one on the left, Eclipse looked away as Lathan punched in another code to open the door. Inside was a desk with two computer screens and a stack of papers off to the side. There were small cubicles above the screens filled with books and more paperwork. The rest of the room was filled with cork boards and on those boards were blueprints, an _abundance_ of blueprints. Some overlapped each other there were so many. There were schematics for tanks, small artillery vehicles, helicopters, and the largest amount for mobile suits. She even saw the name MW-979ca STEALTH on one of the rolled-up blueprints in the corner. Reaching down, she picked it up but before she could open it, Lathan took it from her hands. “No, explain first.” Pulling over his desk chair, he shoved her into the seat and found a clear spot in the floor to sit down.

After a slow breath, she started at the beginning; there was really no other place. There were times he didn’t seem as surprised to hear about what had happened, like when she started talking about the facility on Januarias 4. Most likely Heine would have filled him in a little bit and they might have even done some research on their own since she was directly involved. If they had, however, he didn’t say anything, only breaking into her story every now and again to either grab them something to drink or some food. Surprisingly, he seemed fine throughout the whole explanation, nodding at the appropriate places and keeping his mouth shut for the rest of it, letting her tell everything to the best of her memory. When she got to the medical business, though, his entire demeanor changed. Getting up, he started pacing the room, waving his arm to keep her talking when she started hesitating. 

“You don’t remember anything?”

Eclipse shook her head. “I remember _little_ , not _nothing_.”

“I’m no doctor, but they had to have given you some fucked-up drugs.”

“I don’t even think you have to be a doctor to know or even agree with that.”

“And they were the ones that,” he pointed to his right ear and then hers, “took out the system?”

“I think ‘tore’ is a better word.”

He cringed. “I’m sorry I made that thing so permanent. I figured we’d either see each other again so I could take it our properly or—well—” He stopped, looking away and plopping back down onto the floor.

“Or I’d die in battle, right?” He nodded and she sighed. “It’s alright to admit it, Lathan. After retelling what I’ve been through, I can’t help but wonder how the hell I survived it all too.”

“But I really _wanted_ you to live! Don’t think that I—”

“Oh, give me a break, Lathan. I’d never think that.”

He smiled weakly. “So, you’ll forgive me for the earpiece?”

She blinked. “I didn’t know there was anything to forgive. Yes, that thing was a pain in the ass—well—head when it attached to my eardrum, but it was a huge help with maintenance, and just the whole shebang.” She paused after saying ‘shebang’ and scowled at his smug look. “What I mean to say is, it’s one of your better ideas, Lathan. The aftereffects I could do without,” she pointed to the cotton in her ear, “but if you could make another one, I’d willingly put it back in.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“You’re not just saying that because you think I don’t have another one, right? I mean, you said it was rather painful.”

“You have another one?”

He nodded.

She gulped. “I mean it. Really I do.”

“Good, but we’ll worry about that later.” His smile made her face grow pale. Did she really just agree to have _another_ one of those things attach to her ear? Wow, she must really be getting masochistic if that was the case.

“One condition. Is there any way you can make it less visible? So that it doesn’t happen again?”

He thought about that for a moment and then shrugged. “I might be able to come up with something.”

“Good,” she breathed.

They were quiet for a little bit, Eclipse trying to recall where she had left off in their conversation and Lathan sitting quietly on the floor waiting for her to say something. Or so she figured. “Lathan, back at the medical—”

“Do you know _why_ they did all of that to you?” he interrupted, fiddling with his shoelaces.

Pausing, she tried to remember if she had said anything about her Berserker half and sighed when she remember she had conveniently left that part out. She had told him virtually everything else, so why not go into the supposed reason she had been a lab rat and point out how without that half she probably would really be as dead as he had anticipated. But could she do that? Really let him in on such a sadistic part of herself? But after everything, could she leave him out of it? Every time her other half had come up in conversation, the other person had known about the effects, or at least had a sense of what was going on. Lathan was new to the whole thing and telling him seemed to break some sort of innocence for her. Since the others basically stumbled upon the information accidentally, it seemed unfair to not give her brother a fair warning. After all, seeing the Berserker in action was far worse than hearing about it but this way he wouldn’t be caught off guard. It was the best thing to do, right?

“Lathan,” she began, trying to find the right words, “there’s something different about me; something I can’t really explain.” She heard him shift to look up at her, but her attention went straight to her hands, not wanting to look into his eyes directly. “I have… this other half of me who’s sadistic, warmongering, powerful, and—most of all—completely insane. They call it my Berserker half, even though I’m not entirely sure how it even works or came about. I’m not even sure how I get access to it…” She paused. “I just know I hate it so much, but I am so thankful for it at the same time.”

“Thankful for it?”

“It’s saved me so many times, but it’s just so—just so—impulsive!” she blurted, clenching her hands and feeling them shake in frustration. “It has only one or two impulses and both of them involve some kind of violence. Getting out of that facility was—” She stopped and closed her eyes, blocking out the Berserker’s memories once more before they invaded her thoughts. She really didn’t want to know what had happened. “Lathan, I let it take over and we got out, that was all I cared about! I don’t know how it did it or anything, just that when I was back outside, I was safe again. I-I _hate_ that I had to rely on it!”

“Lexi, stop.”

“I should be stronger than that! After all, _I_ was the one to go through all of that training on Januarias 4, not it! I learned all of those things so I should be able to take care of myself!”

“Lexi—”

“I almost killed teammates because of it! I killed soldiers because—because—”

“Lexi!”

“—it wanted to have some _fun_!” She felt his firm hands on her shoulders and stopped talking, although the shaking was still out of her control.

“Whatever happened, it’s over, alright? You’re safe now.”

“No, I’m not,” she spat, feeling the words come out of her mouth like acid on her tongue. “How can I be safe from myself?”

He didn’t have an immediate answer, just sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know enough about this in order to help you right now, but you _have_ to give me some time. We’ll figure it out.”

She wanted to say, “No you won’t,” but stopped herself, realizing it was her Berserker half who really wanted to spit out the words. She bit her lip then and turned away. 

“Lexi, no matter what is going on in here,” he tapped her forehead. “I _need_ you to understand that you’re still safe. Can you do that for me? Can you stay and let me help you?”

She knew the last question was from his past experiences with her and it made her feel foolish. She hadn’t changed much at all either, totally relying on herself to do things instead of letting other people in. She thought back to Commander Waltfeld, DaCosta, Lacus, and even Heine in space. They had offered her shelter and protection, but she turned it down to go back to Orb on her own and what? Find herself again? How could she find herself when she was spread between two halves in a country that only cared about her last name? Shouldn’t she have been somewhere with people who understood and wanted to help her? Given, Lathan had just proven to her he was going to do all he could to figure things out, but what about the rest of her family? Why did she just abandon her comrades in space to come back to a place she hadn’t called home in years?

“Please let me help you,” he repeated, shaking her shoulders lightly.

 _That was why,_ she realized, feeling her breath clog in her throat and her face grow warmer from the raw emotion hiding behind her eyes. _Because I was afraid to let them help me, covering it up with some lame excuse like wanting to start over. How could I start over?_

“Lexi?”

“Fine,” she said at last, turning her head down and away so that he couldn’t see her face. “I’ll stay a while.” 

Eclipse heard him sigh and whisper a small thank you before getting back to his feet. “I’ll get us some coffee.” She knew it was just a copout so she could have some time alone, but she was thankful for his brotherly intuition. She refused to cry, but if he was in there, she would never gather up enough confidence not to. Gulping down the tears, she raised her head and took a deep breath. Maybe, with Lathan’s help, she could finally get some answers.

* * *

When Eclipse left Lathan’s office, it was well passed dinnertime. She didn’t know she had been talking to her brother for well over four hours and now as she walked back outside and back over to the hangar, she couldn’t help but wonder where all the military personnel had gone off to. There were some people still left working on some machinery, but—for the most part—the grounds were empty. “Most of the mechanics are either eating right now or have gone home for the night,” Lathan explained. “The late shift should be coming in pretty quick, but we try to give some time so the workers can see their families.”

She nodded. “Makes sense. So, does that mean you’re done for the night too?”

“Me, no? I don’t have a family to go back to and I basically live out of my office, so why bother?”

“Lathan—”

“Don’t you start patronizing me, sis. I know very well you worked like a dog in space too.”

Not wanting to lose the argument, she shut up and followed him back to his machine. She was hoping to run into Cagalli again so that the two of them could catch up, but she doubted her cousin would still be in the hangar. After all, the blonde had to eat as well and no matter how much Cagalli loved hanging around the tech geeks, there was no way her daily duties would let her stay there all day.

Or not.

“Lexi! _There_ you are!” Cagalli shouted, running towards them and waving her arm. She said hello to Lathan as she neared who returned the greeting. “When you didn’t come back in an hour or so I went looking for you two.”

“Sorry, Cags, we were in my office,” Lathan explained. “I have been showing her a bunch of technical stuff.”

“I figured as much.” The blonde shrugged, making Eclipse happy to know she hadn’t been keeping too close of tabs on her. It was nice to know she wasn’t being followed for once. “I’ve just been at the simulation arena most of the day. Wanna go, Lexi?”

Eclipse was surprised by Cagalli’s invite and was even more surprised to hear that she had been there most of the day already. Yes, the two of them had taken combat lessons with Kisaka in the past, but she never thought an Orb Princess would have need of mobile suit practice as well. “Well—I—”

“Cagalli!” someone called from the other side of the hangar, walking towards them in much the same manner Cagalli had done a moment earlier. Waving his hand in the air, Eclipse recognized him as being one of the brown-haired mechanics Cagalli had been talking to earlier. “Miriallia and I are going to grab some food. Wanna come with us?” His speech slowed as he turned to see Eclipse, the last few words rolling off his tongue in a slow monotone. “I-I’m sorry, do I know you? You look really familiar.”

Eclipse immediately shook her head, narrowing her eyes in order to get a better look at him. He appeared normal enough, but those purple eyes of his were a bit unnerving. 

“Oh, Kira, this is my cousin, Lexi. I know you met her brother the other day, but she just arrived this morning,” Cagalli said, introducing the two of them.

“K-Kira?” Eclipse breathed, the name falling out of her mouth before he could say anything more. She was stunned. _This_ was Kira? _The_ Kira? For a second, she couldn’t move, the irony of seeing him so soon after arriving on Orb soil too much for her mind to comprehend all at once. She must have looked odd with her mouth partly agape, but it didn’t take long to close and shift into a scowl when the boy stretched out his hand to shake hers. She felt her eyes narrow, going so far as to give her a slight headache from the intensity of the stare.

“So we _do_ know each other,” he said, a light smile curling up his lips.

Eclipse saw it as a smirk, the devilish smile waltzing on his face. His eyes danced with it, showing the age and knowledge behind that purple stare, but Eclipse still saw the devil sitting there flicking her off as if to say, “Come to Hell with me.” This was the pilot who had slaughtered Nicol. Who had destroyed Aisha. Who had almost killed Waltfeld. 

And had nearly killed Athrun.

He stood there for a couple moments longer, Eclipse watching his hand descend slowly back to his side. Something flashed across his eyes, almost as if he suddenly realized where he had recognized her from. If he had remembered Banadiya, then he would have known she was a pilot, or at least a ZAFT soldier. 

Others had walked over to see what was going on and started whispering when Eclipse didn’t take his hand, their quiet hissing solidifying the idea that she was really standing in Hell. Did they honestly expect her to touch those fingers? To touch the same hand that killed so many close friends? If she was going to take his hand, it should have been to lead him to death, not to welcome him into her life.

“Lexi,” she heard Lathan breathe into her deafened right ear, the echo of the word making her regret her actions for just a moment.

She looked at Kira again, trying to find some reason for her to take back her initial reaction. After all, wasn’t she supposed to start making amends? Wouldn’t forgiving the one pilot she loathed be a good start? As soon as she made eye contact, however, his face softened and his eyes glistened.

Pity.

Well, that only made things worse.

Curling her fingers, her hand went instantly from her side to his left cheekbone, her knuckles scraping across his boyish features and—hopefully—doing more to him than just bruising his ego. He stumbled backwards and to the side, tripping over his feet when there was nothing nearby to steady him. It wasn’t the hardest punch she had thrown, but it was enough to make her hand throb from the contact.

“Don’t _ever_ pity me, you bastard!”

She was grabbed instantly, but she wasn’t about to continue the attack. One punch was enough and with so many spectators, she wasn’t about to get in more than that.

“Lexi!” Cagalli shouted, but Eclipse only stared at Kira, watching his mouth move in the most suicidal response he could have given her.

“I’m sorry.”

That was it.

The Berserker was pissed.

“What the _fuck_ is that supposed to mean? You’re _sorry_?”

“Lexi!” Lathan screamed, having been the one to restrain her. Still, the Berserker didn’t hear him, her attention focused on the crumpled Coordinator. And how crumpled he was. Still shaken, she saw his eyes quivering, but not with sadness. 

No, with fear.

Eclipse felt a short laugh leave her throat and a smirk curl up her lips. That pilot deserved to see her other half, the half who was more than willing to turn that surmounting fear into pure petrifaction. 

“Lexi!” Cagalli stepped in between the two, putting hands on the Berserker’s shoulders and giving them a firm shake. Eclipse snapped back to normal before the blonde could see her eyes. “ _What_ are you doing?”

“Stop acting like you understand,” Eclipse spat, feeling the words come out of her mouth before she could stop them. The hurt look on Cagalli’s face made her regret the comment for a moment, but she shook off Lathan’s loosening grip and ran away before she backed down entirely and started apologizing for things she shouldn’t be seeking forgiveness for. After all, apologies were nothing but empty words. Like the wounds Cagalli held for her, she wasn’t even sure time could stitch the gouges Kira had made.

 _How do you do it, Athrun?_ she asked herself, coming to a halt outside the hangar. Not wanting to be found, she snuck around the side of the building and crouched down behind one of the parked vehicles, her back against the wall. _How can you so easily forgive him?_ Folding her hands, she rested them against her forehead. _I wish I had asked you—that you could’ve made me understand_. Defeated, her hands slipped back down into her lap. She had barely been in Orb a day and already she had bought too many tickets to too many emotional amusement parks.

And she had yet to talk to her parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is, Eclipse returns to Orb. There's a new section in this, actually. I had added in her descent through the atmosphere since there were quite a few readers first time around who had felt jolted by the initial section shifts. It's not very long, but a nice few hundred words to bridge the distance, I suppose.
> 
> First physical appearance of Lathan, which is one of the many scenes I really liked writing in this chapter. I have a soft spot in my heart for Lathan, so any time he's on screen I can't help but grin. :) At the end of the chapter we get the fated meeting of Kira and Eclipse, which turns out probably as well as most of you figured it would. XD 
> 
> Anyway, I was happy I could get this up tonight. Thank you for taking the time to read it and I do hope you have all been enjoying the story so far.
> 
> Please take care of yourselves and I'll see you again in the next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	41. Preferably Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse gets to see her parents, Namarra issues a challenge, and SIN-ED seems to be headed in the wrong direction. "Preferably alive," indeed...

Preferably Alive

Eclipse had been ordered to stay away from Kira for the rest of the day. Yes, ordered. After all the confidence and self worth she had gained from following her own commands, there she was nodding silently in response to Lathan’s lecture. What could she say? No, and then go over and start beating the shit out of Kira even more?

Wouldn’t that have been nice?

“Lexi—Lexi, are you listening?” Lathan asked, pushing her shoulder to break her out of the trance. She just nodded and he sighed. “Honestly, sis—”

“I’m sorry, Lathan, but I _refuse_ to play nice with that pilot.”

“Well, isn’t that a little juvenile?” He snorted and leaned back against the Stealth’s lift. Lathan had found her about 20 minutes ago standing next to her beloved suit. She didn’t know when he had started his search, but after a couple of minutes of swallowing her anger, Eclipse had wandered around and found her suit. Basically, she had been happy to see it again. At least until Lathan had joined her and started his lecture.

“Lexi, you coming home is a huge step,” he explained. “I remember how it was when you were shipped off to basic training and, at that time, I was just praying no one from Orb found us. Your anger was still a pain in the ass back then and I was so sick of the dinosaur-sized shit hittin’ the fan that— Would you just _listen_ to me?”

Despite what he was probably thinking, Eclipse _was_ listening. She had turned away a couple words into the conversation and towards the Stealth. As usual, her older brother was right. The only problem about the whole encounter, however, was he had failed to understand her anger didn’t just come in spurts anymore. In fact, it lasted much longer and trying to lecture a seething soldier with Berserker genetics was wishing for a long and painful death.

Lathan sighed and walked around in front of her to block her hypnotized stare at the Stealth. Watching him cross his arms, Eclipse listened as his sigh turned to a frustrated growl. “Because your soul searching seems to be sending you backwards down your psychological mountain,” he began, “I took the liberty in calling Mom and Dad for you.”

 _That_ got her attention.

“They’ll be here in roughly a half hour so wipe that ‘as pissed off as the burn unit in Hell’ look off your face and start practicing your ‘obedient daughter’ smile. I _refuse_ to play happy peacekeeper this time so you’d better get your act together or that fan’s gonna be blowin’ the shit backwards into your open mouth.”

“Why the _hell_ did you call them?” she asked, the question twisting into more of a sharp-edged accusation than a genuine inquiry. “And why now?”

“Sis, I may not be entirely sure why you came back, but I _do_ know Mom and Dad had something to do with it. You wanna start making peace? Begin with the toughest ones on your list and the others’ll start looking like a slice of cheesecake.”

“And what if I don’t like cheesecake?”

“Put in your own form of sugar and calorie-riddled dessert and you still end up at the same finish line.”

She wanted to babble, wanted to argue, but as far as she got was a snort and a frown. When in doubt, just keep the lips shut, but that was beginning to be much harder than she had thought. It would be so easy to throw a tantrum and then head back into outer space, but her pride was keeping her feet firmly on the ground.

“Now, I’m assuming you’ll need some time to psychologically prepare, so meet at my office in a half hour.” Waving, he turned away, but soon stopped, his body lurching forward and his shoulders shrugging upwards. Spinning on the balls of his feet, he pointed over at her. “You’ll be okay by yourself? No more bitch slapping?”

Exhausted, she rolled her eyes. “Lathan…”

“And you can’t go in the Stealth. If I hear you’d been in there,” he warned, “I’ll put a CA transmitter in _both_ your ears.”

“Sadist.”

“Masochist!” he yelled back and practically ran out of the building. Maybe he was smarter than she had anticipated.

* * *

_Two minutes_ , she thought, watching the digital seven change to eight and the side seconds restart their count to sixty. _I’ll leave in two minutes_. Sighing, she fell back onto the floor and stared up at the Stealth. Heeding Lathan’s warning, she didn’t go into the suit, but she did sit on the cockpit door for a while, slowly making her way back down to the floor as the time ticked closer. And there she ended up, sitting on the cold cement floor wishing there was someone she could call and talk to. Seeing only men flash across her mind’s eye she laughed. _Yeah, like any of them would listen._ Cagalli appeared then, but Eclipse shook her head. _Too close to the family._ Namarra came up and she just laughed again. Lacus ended the emotional support slideshow, but again Eclipse shook her head. The Clyne Faction was in too delicate of a position for her to be asking, “Lacus, are you there?” through radio frequencies. She sighed.

One more minute. 

Thankfully, no one had come in to disturb her during her emotional meditation for the past half hour. Two soldiers had opened the door, but left quickly afterwards, probably seeing her legs swinging back and forth out of the cockpit. 

_Get up, Eclipse_ , she thought, trying to order herself to sit. _Get up and get it over with._ She still didn’t move.

“Mom—Dad—stop!” she heard Lathan stutter after the echo of the clanging door faded. The noise itself hadn’t startled her, but her brother’s panicked voice was frightening, and he rarely raised his voice.

“No, if she wants to be late, it can be for her own engagement,” their mother explained, her heels clicking dangerously on the ground. “I _refuse_ to be stood up by—” She stopped talking when Eclipse scrambled to her feet, her heels slowing down for a split second as if she was surprised.

Her father, however, kept walking and only stopped when he was centimeters from Eclipse’s body. “ _You_ have a lot of explaining to do.” The venom in his voice was so thick she thought he would keel over from too much poison exposure.

Too close to him, she had to take a step back to look him in the face. Eclipse was practically his mirrored image, from the red hair to the grey eyes. She didn’t get his height—Lathan was blessed with that—so all her life he had towered over her, crushing her to the ground by the sheer intensity of his stare. His fists shook at his sides and if it wasn’t for their no violence ideology, she might have been afraid he would hit her. Then again, parental discipline wasn’t listed under their form of violence.

“Where should I begin?” Despite the fact that she had changed into an Orb uniform, the news of her alliance had no doubt made its rounds. Since he didn’t ask for a “Why” and, instead, going straight to the meat of the tale, she assumed he knew about how she had arrived and what she had arrived in. Watching his eyes slowly trace the line up the Stealth behind her, there probably wasn’t too much of a secret left to hide.

“Well?” she asked again and still he said nothing, leaning back slowly and crossing his arms only when his wife slowed and stopped off to his left. They were both wearing dark blue suits, their business attire a stark contrast to Lathan’s mechanic’s scrubs, and with the heels, even her mother had a height advantage. She had long strawberry blonde hair that was thrown up into a bun that day, a couple of strands streaking down her cheeks in what was either a jostled mistake or intentional. They looked almost alien in the mobile suit hangar, but the looks on their faces were something she had been at the butt end of for as long as she could remember.

Eclipse scowled, her hands balling into fists when neither of them spoke. She hated the fact that they stood there expecting her to know what they wanted from her. Judging her. Waiting for her to explain her actions and then, no matter what reasons she might give, reprimand her. She was a soldier of ZAFT and in their little world of endless happiness and no violence she was the ultimate evil. If they had actually been in the war, they probably would have backed away from that ideal, knowing it to be foolish. But there they were, glaring down at her and attempting to make her crumble under their disappointment. She saw her father’s right hand move at his side, but it never reached out to strike her.

It didn’t reach out to comfort her either.

She wished they would speak, yell, scream—something. Even abuse she could handle, but the unspoken threats were just suffocating. “Say something.”

“Dad—” Lathan started, but their father cut him off.

“Tell me why.”

“’Why’ is a very vague question.”

“Then why you wear a ZAFT uniform? I heard you flew to Orb in this mobile suit, but the next words out of your mouth better be that it’s not yours.” His chin jutted towards the Stealth behind her.

Eclipse paused and searched his face for some kind of forgiveness for what she was about to say, but she saw nothing but cold rejection. She could only answer his question one way and he was _not_ going to like it. 

“Speak.”

More orders. “I won’t tell you a why, but I’ll tell you who I am. I am ZAFT elite, Lunar Eclipse.” She saluted despite the rage mangling his face. “Soldier number 8704298 registered with the Le Creuset Team currently assigned to the Zala Team.” Her thumb flicked behind. “Pilot of the MW-979ca STEALTH.”

“Enough.”

“Kill count, unknown.”

“I said—”

“Ordered to seek and destroy—”

“—stop.”

“—the special organization, SIN-ED. Can use any means necessary to eliminate the target.”

Silence followed the explanation, the final “et” of “target” echoing softly off the walls. Eclipse dropped the salute and looked at her family. Lathan shifted nervously and her father’s eyes held disgust now instead of anger. Swallowing, his face contorted in a nauseated grimace like he was just forced to drink a cup of bile. She stared at her mother the longest, the older woman’s eyes surprisingly dry through the whole conversation. In fact, they seemed empty as if seeing her youngest child meant nothing.

“I’m proud of myself,” Eclipse said, breaking the silence, but not the eye contact with her mother. Her eyes widened briefly before they settled back to their empty stare.

“I don’t believe you,” her father said, but she didn’t take her eyes away from her mother.

“I’ve become stronger, Father.”

“For what?” he asked, but what his wife said proved to be the scarier of the two questions.

“And what have you done with all that power? Do your accomplishments outweigh your failures?”

“Mother—” Lathan had stepped towards her, but she held up a hand and he stopped.

Memories bounced around in Eclipse’s mind then. Januarias 4 when she had killed MR and tortured civilians only to get false information and execute innocent people. To the _Vesalius_ when she had laughed at Miguel’s death. To the time she had killed Greed.

Her Berserker half.

“Has your violence done any good?” her mother continued and even Eclipse swallowed under her gaze.

She remembered Banadiya when her reckless fighting rendered her helpless to save Commander Waltfeld and Aisha. When she could only sit back and watch Nicol die. And watch Athrun self-destruct. And when she couldn’t find Dearka.

When she watched FS and Stray go insane.

Eclipse’s eyes faltered and shifted down slowly to the ground. Her mom scoffed. “In the end, violence is nothing but a primal impulse teasing the weak minded to think they can create a peaceful security.”

“Disgusting,” she heard her father whisper and felt the air shift when he whipped around to leave.

She couldn’t just let them go, not after that. She wasn’t useless. There had to be a reason she chose war instead of peace. But she couldn’t think, only dwell on all the lives she failed to save and all the people she had felt deserved death. Standing there in front of her parents, she _did_ feel disgusting.

“Mom—Dad—” Lathan said, his shuffling feet probably trying to keep them from leaving on such bad terms. “You can’t just—”

“Move, Lathan,” her father spat. “Don’t make _your_ situation any worse.”

 _That’s right,_ Eclipse thought, lifting her head to see him pushing Lathan aside. _They would’ve been just as upset with him. His fighting involved keeping the pilot of a machine safe, but it was still—_ She stopped. “To protect.” They all turned to her. “I learned to fight to protect everyone. Just like a parent punishes a child, I fight so that—”

“We know of a parent’s duties, but you don’t fight to teach, you fight to kill,” her father said, his face going as blank as his wife’s. Eclipse opened her mouth to continue the argument, but her mother cut her off.

“You may be blind to it, but the blood on your hands stains so deep it mixes and taints your own. Our blood no longer runs through you.” And they left, her mother’s last statement echoing through Eclipse’s mind. She watched them, saw them clasp their hands together and walk through the door; saw them show complete love and devotion to one another, but not the gentle forgiveness to their children. She fell to her knees.

“Lexi—” Lathan began, but the words choked in the back of his throat, a squeak exiting his mouth instead of comfort.

Rushing to the side of the Stealth’s leg, Eclipse braced her hands on the cool metal and leaned off to the side. She wretched.

* * *

For the next couple of weeks, Eclipse rarely left the Stealth’s side. A lot of things had happened in the world since her heartfelt conversation with her folks. There was a large-scale battle at Panama where the Earth Alliance introduced their new mobile suits and Eclipse distinctly remembered seeing the Duel amid that particular chaos. From what the redhead could tell, the EA’s new models were cheap knockoffs of the Strike, but it was the best they could get on such short notice. And because they were so cheap, they were easy to mass produce, so perhaps the numbers were better than the quality after all. That had yet to be proven entirely, but watching the reports while upgrading the Stealth had become a common pastime and Eclipse found herself impressed with how many those appropriately named Strike Daggers the Earth Alliance could put in the field. In the end, the mass driver in Panama was destroyed, leaving the Earth Alliance with only one more option if they wanted to get into outer space and take the war to ZAFT’s doorstep.

Orb.

Cagalli had been hanging around and watching the reports with Eclipse as much as she could, but she was often at the main estate or defense headquarters, trying to get updates on the situation from the political end of things. For the most part, only rumors and speculations were running around, but they were still true and scary. If the Earth Alliance came to Orb, things were bound to get ugly. 

The crewmembers on the _Archangel_ thought so as well, often talking in groups about the matter. Eclipse had seen them discussing the Panama incident, but never ventured over to join the conversation. A part of her didn’t want to bring up the Kira ordeal and—even though she was trying to erase her bad feelings—she still held a small grudge against that ship and its crew. The captain seemed nice enough, but Eclipse wasn’t willing to engage in anything more than a hello and a weak smile whenever she came in to ask Lathan something about repairs. The _Archangel_ captain, Murrue Ramius by name, had tried bringing up the Stealth in a conversation, but Eclipse just gave small answers, sharing some information, but not enough to keep the conversation going. Murrue had given up after a while, but excused herself with a smile, putting a hand on Eclipse’s shoulder and walking away to join an older blond pilot, Mu La Flaga. Eclipse was happy for the interaction, but was still hesitant when it came to talking freely to them, especially the captain. 

Lathan had been silent about the parental discussion, apparently just as distraught as she had been with what had happened. Their parents had actually called to see Eclipse once more—and about four more times for Lathan—but she had refused. They didn’t press the matter. Eclipse felt she had to come up with a better argument before she spoke to them face-to-face again. Besides, if they wanted to apologize, they could come and visit her on her own terms, not call and ask her to meet them at the house.

Right after the incident, however, Lathan’s guilt had made him productive to the point where he locked himself in his office and programmed two more earpieces like he had promised. He said it was the only way he could get the matter off his mind, but she knew it had more to do with him feeling guilty about setting it up on his terms instead of either of either hers or their parents’. She was never going to call him out on it. After all, he was only thinking of her wellbeing so she couldn’t really blame him too much. Besides, he even agreed to help her upgrade the Stealth in between his other duties to make it up to her and that meant the repairs were going to go a bit faster thanks to an extra set of hands, but he was often exhausted. There were some nights she found him asleep and drooling on the console. At least he had finished the earpieces and even made a few adjustments—blending into her ear a bit more being one of them. The transmitter was in her right ear right then, syncing with the computer on the Stealth and taking a bit longer than she had expected. The other ear was listening to Cagalli and welcoming the mundane conversation.

“So, I decided to follow your example,” she explained, playing with the flathead screwdriver in her hands. “I may not have been as helpful to Kisaka’s hometown as I wanted to be, but I saw the world like my father suggested.”

Eclipse looked up, searching the blonde’s face before she started talking again. She didn’t want to offend her cousin, but she might have been exaggerating a little bit. “You _do_ know that going to one tribe and in one desert doesn’t really amount to seeing the world, right?”

Cagalli sighed. “I know, but the culture was totally different and the area poor—”

Eclipse held up a hand as she turned the outside dial on the CA earpiece. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like it wasn’t worth while, just that you should be careful before you go around saying you’ve travelled the world.” Cagalli nodded and stared at the screwdriver in her hands. Eclipse smiled weakly. “Sorry, that was harsh. I can tell you’ve learned a lot, Cags, so—even though some may not be as understanding,” she saw the blonde rub her cheek, “I think you did the right thing.” That brightened her mood a little and Eclipse smiled, glad she could ease a troubling matter on her cousin’s mind. 

“Initiating command code sequence,” the Stealth said through her earpiece. “When ready, type VCOMM onto the screen and state sequence.”

“Hold on,” she said to Cagalli and twisted her torso to reach over and grab the keyboard, punching VCOMM as directed. “Coffee Addict,” she said, and began opening and closing her mouth at awkward angles to make sure the earpiece was snug. There was a sharp pain behind her eye when she moved one way, but it went away quickly.

“Command code accepted. Initiating ending sequences. You might feel—”

“Holy shit—” she screeched.

“—some discomfort.”

“Lexi?” Cagalli asked, grabbing her shoulders before she fell sideways off the lift.

“Damn you, Lathan!” she cursed, snatching the screwdriver from her cousin’s hands and throwing it down at her brother on the hangar floor. Sidestepping the falling tool, he flicked her off and went back to fiddling with his computer.

“Lexi, are you alright?” Cagalli asked, waiting for Eclipse to nod before taking her hands off her shoulders. “Damn, I didn’t think it’d be that intense to be linked up with your suit.”

“It’s pretty neat later on, but the initial process sucks balls!” She yelled the last two words to her brother.

“Whatever you do with your sex life is your problem, sis!” he responded, flashing a toothy grin. Eclipse debated spitting on him, but after seeing some stragglers in the hangar turn her way, she decided to let him win that round.

Cagalli stuck around for most of the afternoon, the two of them laughing on the Stealth’s lift as if nothing had happened between them, or she hadn’t joined ZAFT, or she hadn’t punched Kira. Eclipse laughed as if her parents didn’t hate her. “And then the commander walked in and by that time the glue was stuck on his—” Eclipse stopped, the message alert on the Stealth going off. Cagalli’s imagination had already taken over by then and she hugged her stomach in laughter, Eclipse hoping her fit wouldn’t send her completely over the side. Crawling into the seat, she pressed two buttons on the side and stared at the monitor.

_Hey B-Bud, I have a riddle for you: How long does it take for two Berserkers to destroy an island? Wanna find out? You’re in Orb. I’ll be there in two hours._

_Bob_

_P.S. No mobile suit required._

Eclipse read the message two more times before falling back into the seat. She didn’t even know she had been sitting up.

“Lexi, you okay? Is something wrong?” Cagalli asked, sticking her head through the open cockpit. “You look pale.”

“I feel pale,” she admitted, shutting off the screen before the blonde could see the message. “S’cuse me,” she muttered, pushing past Cagalli. “Lathan! How soon ‘til she flies?”

Her brother looked up from his welding. Flipping up his mask, he turned off the blow torch. “What?”

“What’s the ETA on completion? When can she fly?”

He paused for a second, using his left hand to check off his invisible list of duties. “Roughly 10 hours.”

Eclipse cursed. “Until she can leave the ground?”

“That’s until total upgrade completion. About two hours if I book it until she can fly.”

“And if I help?”

“That _is_ if you were helping.” He paused, putting one hand on his right hip as his torch swayed in the other near his side. Even from a the distance between her cockpit and the hangar floor she felt his glare. “Why do you ask?”

“I have—” She hesitated, not sure how to explain to him what was going on. If Cagalli wasn’t there she might had said it outright, but since she could feel the blonde’s eyes on the back of her head, she bit her bottom lip. “I have some personal business to attend to.”

“In a mobile suit?” her brother pressed.

Eclipse sighed and made eye contact with him, hoping she wouldn’t have to say something they would both regret. As far as Cagalli knew, she was just in the ZAFT military, not chasing after some secret organization. He was her brother so he should understand. Yes, he wanted to look out for her well-being but he should know by now it wasn’t that easy to keep her locked up. “Lathan,” she said, his name coming out slow and crisp. Hopefully, that would be enough.

He stared her down for a couple more seconds before turning away. “Fine, but _you_ have to get permission. I refuse to be your whipping boy.”

“If I helped would you be able to finish quicker?” Cagalli asked, leaning down and looking at Lathan too. It seemed like an obvious question, but the two siblings couldn’t help staring at her dumbfounded. “Since the other mechanics are monopolized at the moment,” she explained, blushing a little. “And even if I’m not as good as you guys, I’m sure I can’t screw it up _too_ bad.”

“I’m game,” Lathan replied after a moment of consideration, but Eclipse was a little more hesitant. Not that she didn’t mind Cagalli helping, she was just skeptical about her knowledge. But if Lathan was okay with it, she should be too, right?

“I dunno.”

“Stop worrying, sis. C’mon, Cags, let’s make a molehill out of this mountain.”

* * *

“Wow.” Lathan whistled, propping his feet up on the console and staring at his watch. “Getting permission took approximately, one hour, forty-nine minutes and fifteen—nope sixteen seconds.”

“Shut up,” Eclipse grumbled, slipping her red helmet under her arm.

“I take it Father wasn’t too keen on the idea,” Cagalli said, a small smirk on her lips. She leaned next to Lathan’s feet, a huge grease trail extending from her chin up to her forehead.

Eclipse didn’t respond, not wanting to explain how hard it was for her to get permission to leave the island so she could go meet her assassin partner and destroy an island. Just saying she wanted to meet a friend wasn’t going to cut it for the Orb Representative and having such a vague report during war times could get Lord Uzumi into more trouble than he was willing to get in. “Laugh if you want. I got the permission now tell me you upheld your end of the deal. Can she fly?”

“What deal? _We_ did all the work. You owe us something then.”

“Lathan—”

“Yes, yes, she’s ready to go,” he replied, waving his hand in annoyance. “If you want to take her, then go.”

“Thank you,” she grumbled and stepped up on the lift.

Cagalli put a hand on the railing before Eclipse could grab the lever. “Mind telling me what’s going on? Lathan seems okay with it, but I’m not. Why do you have to leave again? And why like this?”

“I’ll be back.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Her face grew soft and stern at the same time; a look she must have learned from her father. “Lexi, what’s going on?”

Eclipse sighed. “I can’t really tell you, Cags.”

“But you _can_ tell me about pranks in the guy’s locker room?”

“Cags,” she sighed, her name alone causing the blonde’s face to go straight to nervous worry. Eclipse braced herself for the lecture, knowing Cagalli had a tendency to start yelling as soon as someone started doing something she didn’t agree with. Then again, she wasn’t that shallow. Looking at her face, Eclipse figured her lecture was prompted by concern and not whether or not she agreed with Eclipse’s thinking. 

The blonde’s mouth opened and then closed before any words could come out. Frowning, she turned away and crossed her arms over her chest instead of blowing up at Eclipse and probably putting a jagged knife through their reunion. _Maybe she has grown up_ , Eclipse thought, smiling and putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. Squeezing it once, she pushed the lever on the lift and started upwards.

“The HiMat system’s been updated so there shouldn’t be any more huge cockroaches to worry about,” Lathan explained, rocking out of his chair and looking up at her. “Working on the Freedom was beneficial after all. I never would have expected the suit to end up here of all places though.”

Eclipse just nodded, knowing all the details from the other side of the battle line, but still not wanting to get into that conversation, especially since she was about to see Namarra. She might not have been so nervous if she knew what her fellow Berserker wanted—the message was a bit vague and unusual for the Natural—but since there was virtually no information in that note, she could only sit there and let her imagination run wild.

“It’s not armed—at least not entirely. You still have the EARP Daggers, only a hundred bullets in your CIWS guns, the two blades under the arms and on the feet, and one of the two beam rifles.” Eclipse looked at him then, cocking an eyebrow. She shouldn’t have been so suspicious or angry at him, especially since she had suggested the upgrades and then rushed them as soon as the message came from Namarra, but she couldn’t help it. Namarra had said there was no need for a mobile suit, but that statement only caused more wary curiosity than relief. “Sorry, sis, but I was in the middle of upgrading your weaponry when you wanted me to switch to the flight systems.” He held up his arms in a helpless defense. “You’re out both beam sabers and the Scylla, but I _did_ manage to refill the Colloid.” He paused. “Oh, and your extra battery’s still kaput, so don’t do anything too reckless.”

“Why does everybody keep telling me that?” Eclipse asked, nodding at the same time and stepping onto the cockpit hatch. Holding onto the frame, she turned and—mostly out of the habit—saluted the two of them. “I’m not sure how long this’ll take.”

“Keep us updated?” Cagalli asked, still standing with her arms crossed.

She nodded and headed into the suit, issuing a relieved sigh once she was safely buckled in the seat. She hadn’t expected her departure to be so tense. Maybe she just wasn’t used to actual goodbyes. For the most part, every time she had gone somewhere, a couple of waves had been involved but nothing more. Now she had two relatives glaring up at her and she didn’t even think the reinforced armor could protect her.

* * *

There was no meeting spot assigned in the message, and no further information from Namarra to specify exactly where they were supposed to kill each other. All she mentioned was Orb, so the only thing Eclipse could do was leave the main island and hope to catch her on one of the outer islands. It seemed like a good idea at first, but when fifteen minutes turned into a half hour and even on to forty-five minutes, Eclipse began getting antsy. Another thing she couldn’t figure out was how the Natural was even going to get into the Orb airspace without being spotted. That question was answered a second later when the Stealth picked up a distress signal. It wasn’t exactly like a distress signal she had seen before, more like an acute variation. The Stealth picked up the waves anyway, listing them as “Unspecified Idiocy.” Apparently, Heine hadn’t told Lathan about the personality her suit had gained thanks to his new system.

Either that or he had enjoyed the dry humor of it all.

The signal came from an island roughly five miles outside Orb’s official border. The government often kept an eye on the island for any suspicious movements but somehow Namarra had managed the get there unnoticed. Judging by the size of the signal, she might even have a mobile suit.

“Coffee Addict, scan the island.”

“No mobile suit detected, but another signal received. It is the letters B-O-B in Morse code.”

Eclipse shook her head and laughed, pushing the levers forward to land the Stealth roughly a half of a mile from the shore. Turning off the suit, she stared at the cameras before opening the hatch just to make sure her fellow Berserker didn’t plan on ambushing her. Seeing nothing in particular, she opened the cockpit. “Namarra—hey, I know you’re out here,” she yelled, putting one hand on the top frame and a foot on the hatch. “You wanted me here so stop playing Hide and Seek and come out.” No response. She didn’t really expect one, but common courtesy said Namarra should at least whistle. Knowing the Natural wasn’t one to read the manners’ manual—let alone follow it—Eclipse just sighed. “I’m gonna leave if you don’t—”

 _Ping_.

It was an interesting sound. She really didn’t have much time to appreciate the musical tone and how the bullet ricocheted off the left arm of the Stealth because another shot followed closely after the first. Since neither bullet hit her, the shooter either had bad aim or didn’t want to kill her. She hoped for the latter. “Namarra?”

“Why don’t we play a little game; just the two of us. I’ll stay out of my mobile suit and you stay out of yours.”

She didn’t sound too far away, but she was hidden very well if Eclipse couldn’t spot her. Not that she expected anything less, though. The most interesting thing about her proposition, however, was not the game—Namarra had always seemed inept at having fun during life-threatening situations—but the mention of a mobile suit. If she had one too then why couldn’t the Stealth find it? Sure, the Earth Forces had the technology to build them, but even though they had the schematics, could anyone pilot them? Out of all the Naturals, Namarra seemed the best bet, but it was a scary gamble. If Namarra was being used the same way Eclipse was supposed to be used, there were a lot of dead people.

“So, what’s your answer? I can kill you right now if you’d rather we do it the easy way.”

Eclipse was about to ask about why Namarra _had_ to kill her, but as soon as she opened her mouth another bullet ricocheted just above her left hand on the frame. “Fine, are there any rules to this game? First to spill blood gets the other as a prisoner?”

“Wow, for a Berserker you think like a weakling. This is to the death, honey.”

Ignoring the endearment, Eclipse took a breath. She finally gained enough freedom to think on her own again and the second thing she had to decide? Get killed by Namarra or kill her.

Yes, a very ego-friendly decision.

Putting a foot into the zipcord, she rode it down to the ground before she gave a response. “And why do we have to kill each other?” Another gunshot bounced off the Stealth. “I don’t have anything against you.” Yet another shot. “We’ve kept each other alive in the past. Why the sudden change of heart?” That bullet grazed past her ear. “You retrieved your sniper rifle, I see.” In the dirt between her feet. “Would you stop shooting already!”

“Aw, I was hoping you’d dance for me.”

“Sorry, I’m not as jumpy as your other targets.”

“A pity.” She walked out of the woods after a few moments, leaning the rifle up against a tree and grinning. Of course she was smiling; she was having fun after all. Sporting a camouflage bikini top and jean shorts, she looked ready for the beach more than for an assassination. Fixing her ponytail, she tossed a duffle bag a couple of feet in front of her. It clattered on the dirt, making Eclipse sigh when she guessed what was in it.

Guns and ammunition.

“What is this, _Baywatch_ mixed with _Die Hard_?”

“This is just to make things interesting. No extra clothing—little defense—and no holsters, you grab what you can easily run with.”

“You’ve been planning this.”

The Natural smirked. “Also, inside is an identical top for you and some shorts. I’d hate to be at a disadvantage.”

"Of course you would,” Eclipse muttered, still making no move towards the bag. “I need a reason why, Namarra.”

“The playground is this island. We’ll hide our suits at a spot in the middle of the forest so we don’t get any unwanted attention. The trackers will be disengaged and the radios locked down.”

“Namarra.”

“I guess you can call this full contact Tag. The person who’s ‘It’ get two hours to kill the other person. If she doesn’t succeed, the other person gets a chance. I’ve set my mobile suit to send out a high-pitched frequency every time we have to switch. We should be able to hear it, but the waves are so fine no one else should pick it up.”

Eclipse just sighed, knowing Namarra wasn’t going to give her a straight answer. There had to have been _some_ reason why the Natural was playing this “game.” Looking at her then, she seemed hesitant, almost unwilling to be explaining the rules she had come up with. “Fine, I’ll play along. So, what does the person who’s not ‘It’ do?”

“Run.”

“She can’t fight back?”

“Only if the fighting is in close quarters, otherwise she just has to survive.”

Eclipse stared hard at her counterpart, wondering what was going through that head of hers. This seemed like a lot of work if she was just trying to kill her. If that was the case, why give her a chance to kill the Natural as well? Eclipse hadn’t gotten any assassination orders, so what was with the “I’m giving you some hope” scenario? “Namarra—”

Twirling one of the guns in her hand, she aimed it at Eclipse and fired, the empty click muffled by the rustling leaves. “Hm, didn’t even flinch.” She smirked. “This is definitely gonna be fun!”

“How can I be sure you’re going to follow these rules? I’m a bit skeptical about what’s going on.”

“Skeptical? Of me?”

Eclipse’s eyes narrowed, not amused. “Promise me you won’t just blow my head off when I’m ‘It’ because you thought it would be fun to go dancing in the rain.” Namarra just smiled and Eclipse frowned. “Alright, we’ll do it your way. I have my mobile suit’s CIWS guns pointed precisely at your position right now. Give me your word.”

After a second of hesitation, the Natural took a large step forward, putting the two roughly two feet from one another. “Y’know, it looks as if your machine has been worked on recently and based on that poor welding job on the left leg, I’ll say the mechanic was a newbie. Tell me, did _you_ adjust the calibration for those guns? Or did you let the mechanic do it? And do you trust that the mechanic did it correctly? You could be aiming at me, but end up hitting everything else around me in a three feet radius instead. And,” she continued, the smile growing more and more devilish as she spoke, “now you could be hit merely because I closed the distance between us. Still wanna fire?”

Eclipse frowned, realizing the embarrassment she had walked into only after she made the threat. Of course Namarra wouldn’t be intimated so easily and leave it to her to notice the quick work Lathan and Cagalli did on the Stealth. “At least give me a reason for why the hell we should run around half naked shooting at each other.”

“Call it girl bonding.”

“What?”

“Just humor me, Lexi.” Her face was serious then, something about the way the side of her mouth twitched gave Eclipse the feeling she didn’t want to be there. Eclipse was about to call her on it when she raised her gun into the air and exclaimed, “Now, let the games begin!”

It was going to be an interesting afternoon.

* * *

FS wasn’t sure what had started the whole thing, only that he was pissed it _did_ start. His big welcome party to space was basically a handshake with a grenade attached and an exclamation so fake he could just hear Wrath’s phony smile curling up his face through the transmission. Next thing he knew, a machine gun sounded in the auditorium and the alarm went off saying the oxygen in the satellite would be gone in roughly four hours. Hell, they were lucky the gravity was still working. Sometimes having an overly intelligent team could have its drawbacks. 

Or maybe just a team who didn’t give a damn.

A civil war between the SIN-ED members seemed foolish and only a bit impulsive. Sure, most of the members were unstable, but weren’t the “stable” people keeping them under control? Perhaps sending Wrath and Stray together was a bad idea. Originally, he had thought Kross and Miato could keep things running without incident, but as he was weaving around the bodies littering the hallways with the Lust twins he couldn’t help but think he had a little too much faith in his organization.

“Uh, Pride—” Melanie began, but FS held up his hand. A younger teen—about twelve—rounded the corner in front of them, instinctively aiming the gun in his hand. Panicking, the boy shot. The bullet went wide, missing Phoebe’s left arm, but still pissing her off nonetheless. Recovering from the attack, she swung her right arm up and pulled the trigger. The shot ricocheted off the when the kid ducked for cover.

“This is ridiculous,” Phoebe grumbled, backing up to hide behind another wall. 

“Even the kids are fighting,” Melanie said, crouching behind her sister to refill her magazine.

“Damn it, I wish Wrath had been a little more gracious with information over the radio than ‘We’re fucked.’”

“What do you expect, Pride? He’s probably enjoying himself,” Melanie said, watching her sister curl around the wall and fire another shot. There was a small _thunk_ and then the sickening sound of dead weight falling to the floor. 

“C’mon.” Phoebe motioned for them to follow her down the hall. 

They knew they had to get back to the shuttle dock, but the satellite was littered with people killing any and everyone. From what FS could tell, they were all spooked. After so much the SIN-ED members had been through—all from some sort of human experimental programs—he couldn’t figure out why they were running around so scared. Had someone messed with the medication?

“Pride, down!” Melanie shouted, putting a firm hand on his shoulder and pushing it hard to the ground. FS dropped to a squat and brought up his gun. A bullet passed over his head and kept going on down the hallway, probably hoping to put a hole in either a wall or a fresh body. Still crouching, he and the Lust twins brought up their handguns at the same time. His finger tightened against the trigger, but he stopped at the last second, hearing his comrades’ guns go off together. If he could save bullets, it would be good for all of them in the long run. The shooter at the end of the hall collapsed with the two bullets in his body, one in his chest and the other penetrating just above his left hip.

What happened next was based off of honed instincts, too many years listening to the smallest of sounds and praying none of them were there to kill. It wasn’t just the quiet brush of a footstep, but the squishing sound of a shoe sole soaked in too much liquid. Quiet, yes, but still unmistakable. FS twisted around and aimed high, figuring his opponent would be walking instead of crouched low based on the amount of pressure the squishing gave off. No matter how silent someone could walk, blood-soaked shoes were very noticeable. One of the drugged Naturals rounded the corner, holding two SMGs waist high. 

“Lust!” FS yelled, knowing that would get both of their attentions quicker than saying their names separately. Melanie was the only one to turn and look, hooking an arm around her sister’s and pulling her off to the left side of the hallway and into a smaller inlet. They squeezed in as best they could but they couldn’t cover their bodies completely. Bullets grazed their fronts, forming deep red streaks across their arms and upper chest.

FS had run down the hallway, sticking close to the wall and then diving around a corner. One bullet grazed across the top of his shoe, the Sin feeling the laces loosen and his right foot nearly slipping out. Another shot, however, hit his calf. He could feel the bullet after it went through, the slug going so fast his brain didn’t register the pain until it was already stuck in the wall. Gulping, he tried to slow his breathing and not think about the blood soaking through into his trousers. Leaning back, he waited for some kind of break to turn around and start his own barrage. _Shit,_ he thought over and over again, trying to drown out Lust’s painful screams.

Taking a breath to shove his own injury from his head, he closed his eyes. The bullets were fading towards the other side of the hallway, the shooter most likely finding the Lust twins to be the easier target of the two. Given their little cover and closer distance, FS understood his choice, but he wasn’t about to let it be so easy. Opening his eyes again, he focused on where the shots were landing and waited until he could have enough room to turn and fire. 

Tensing, he was going to curl around the wall and start shooting, but the barrage stopped, a dying scream echoing through the thick silence left by the Natural and his trigger-happy fingers. Lust had stopped screaming, but FS could tell they hadn’t moved. Their rapid gasping was enough to give away their position and he could see them clutching their arms in the inlet, so that meant there had to be someone else in the hallway who killed the assailant. 

Fearing the new shooter would get to the girls, he rolled out into the open and aimed. Not getting a good look at the person until he was already pulling the trigger, he tried veering the shot to the left into the open wall and away from any potential victims. The new shooter did the same, his bullet barely grazing the hair on FS’s head.

Silence followed again, but it wasn’t as tense as it had been moments before. In fact, the Lust twins were so relieved they both collapsed to their knees, their hands falling forward and slapping onto the tile floor. “Gluttony, thank goodness,” Phoebe breathed. Stray looked just as pleased to see them, running over to the girls and seeing how badly they were injured. They had a lot of cuts and grazes—and most deep enough to cause some bleeding and discomfort—but nothing the twins hadn’t handled before. Helping them stand, he led them over to FS.

“Jaeger,” FS said, accepting his hand. Now on his feet, he tried putting pressure on his injured leg and ended up hobbling to lean back against the bullet-ridden wall. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

The Sin gave a weak smile. “I guess I do, don’t I?”

“But not here,” Phoebe said, pulling her sister’s arm up and over her shoulders as Melanie put some pressure on a deep gauge just above her right knee. It wouldn’t take long to heal, but right then it made her a bit immobile. “I hear more people coming this way.” Stray nodded and put FS’s arm across his shoulders, handing him the gun. Phoebe grabbed and cocked her gun before the four of them shuffled forward as two more bloodied bodies slammed against the wall at the farthest end of the hall. 

Stray led them down a tiled corridor, once the hall leading to the cafeteria but now nothing more than a morgue. Bodies lined both walls, some recognizable and some with only bone splinters and brain matter to call a face. The floor was slippery as they walked on, the four of them reducing their quick steps to slow skating across the tile. Melanie gulped loudly behind FS. “Oh God, it’s soaking through my shoes,” she whispered, her sloshing feet and blunt remark alerting FS to the warm liquid squishing between his own toes.

“We’re almost there,” Phoebe soothed, but her next question proved she wasn’t as confident as her voice portrayed. “Right, Gluttony?”

“I’m hoping there aren’t enough SIN-ED members left alive to have grabbed _all_ the shuttles. We’ll head to Hangar 6.” It was meant to be a comforting statement, but not to FS. His organization was literally falling apart in chunks around him. The blaring alarm and body parts were only constant reminders.

Phoebe yelped and the guys turned, watching helplessly as Melanie tripped over an arm and pulled them both to the ground. Their hands hit the tile first, one of Phoebe’s palms splashing hard into a blood puddle thanks to her quick reflexes. The blood jumped up and onto both of their faces, Phoebe catching it in the eye and Melanie in the mouth. They did well to silence their pain, but Melanie couldn’t help the sudden rush of bile leaving her stomach after the metallic taste. 

After everything he had seen those two do, FS was surprised by their reaction to so much bloodshed. He had always thought they lived for that kind of violence, but watching them struggle on the slippery floor, his outlook on them reversed. Perhaps it was different when they were the ones on the wrong side of the gun barrel. Most of the people in the hallway were probably individuals they had been in the laboratory with. While FS and Stray didn’t connect with any of their fellow soldiers on Januarias 4, that didn’t mean the Naturals were just as detached. Then again, maybe Lust’s mortality was just coming into perspective. They could put up a brave face when they were in control of what was going on, but as soon as their hands were wiped clean and no longer involved, they got a little nervous.

The two men offered hands, but the Lust twins got to their feet easily enough, bare knees stained up to the ruffles of their skirts in red blood. “Gluttony, you have to tell us what went wrong. Why are there so many—” Phoebe hesitated, looking down at one of the bodies sitting up against the wall with her face turned awkwardly to the side. “Why are there so many Naturals?”

FS looked at his friend then too, watching the different emotions wave across his face. Stray had always been the one to keep his human-like emotions, not locking them away like so many others. That was why he had seemed so animated, sometimes over exaggerating what was going through his head, but FS had seen through that ruse a long time ago. Sometimes the reactions on his face didn’t match how he felt, proving he had mastered his emotions rather than putting them behind closed doors.

Finally, Stray sighed. “That’s because it’s the Naturals’ faults—or at least Miato for not telling us the drug supply had run thin.”

“Miato?” FS asked.

Stray nodded and started their walk to the hangar once more. “Reports stared coming in soon after Wrath and I arrived about some Naturals losing their short-term memory and snapping at the littlest of things. They complained of severe body aches and migraines that would keep them incapacitated for hours at a time with no relief. Miato looked into it and said he found nothing out of the ordinary. He gave those individuals extra doses of Gamma Glipheptin—the drug neutralizer—and it seemed to be working fine until more and more Naturals started complaining.”

“You ran out then?” FS asked, guessing what might have been going on. 

Stray nodded sadly. “We were slowly gaining ground with Blue Cosmos and a relationship was building, but they still refused to give us access to their medical supplies. We were running out of time, so we had no choice but to steal them. Wrath and I took 10 others with us, but we were barely two hours away when Kross called us in a panic and told us to get back ASAP.”

“So, you returned to this?” Phoebe asked.

“There were two representatives from the Earth Alliance docking today,” FS cut in. “We were supposed to speak to them about the N-Jammer technology. Do you know if they got away?”

“If they weren’t in the hangar when their shuttle exploded, they might be okay, but judging by the look of things in here,” Stray waved his arm out in front of him, “they’d be lucky to walk out of here with any recruits let alone a good head on their shoulders.”

FS cursed.

“What I don’t get,” Melanie continued, leaving FS to his anger, “is why the Naturals suddenly went berserk.”

Stray shrugged. “Miato thought they were either off the drugs too long and the neutralizer was having no effect, or, as they aged, the drugs started affecting their brains at a faster rate, like a worm digging a hole in the dirt and curling up when it got tired, just to start doing the same thing the next morning. He also hinted at sabotage and seeing as you Naturals aren’t affected,” he nodded to the twins, “and Wrath seemed his normal self, I think he was right.”

“Wait, ‘thought’ and ‘hinted?’” FS asked, noticing the past tense when he referred to Miato. 

Stray’s face grew bleak before he spoke, almost as if he was searching for the right words to say. It wasn’t a comforting look. “Wrath and I found Miato first, dead as a piece of bread torn apart by birds and looking just as digested.” FS cursed again and the twins cringed. “Kross was apparently the one greeting the EA representatives in the hangar. I doubt there’s anything left of him now.”

“Wrath?” Melanie asked. “We talked to him on the radio as soon as we arrived, but’ve heard nothing since.”

“I lost him as soon as we left our shuttle. He was laughing and running around like a madman, a shotgun in his hand and an SMG strapped to his back. If he survives, he’s one badass moron.”

More gunfire ahead of them stopped the brief moment of information gathering, the sound coming from the next adjoining hallway. FS brought up his gun and so did Melanie, the four comrades deciding to swap stories and intelligence as soon as they got out of there.

Preferably alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all. Thanks for stopping in for another chapter. I had some inspiration to edit this and got through it relatively quickly, so I just thought I would put it up right away. 
> 
> A lot going on here from the OC POV, but I have a feeling that if you've been reading Waltz for this long, you're fairly on board for OCs. :D I also have a feeling some of you are asking, "What about Dearka?" Yes, I know he is rotting on the Archangel right now, and she's kinda avoiding them. Funny too how no one's mentioned a specific redcoat from ZAFT, but we'll get to that later.
> 
> I have a feeling most of you know where we are in the SEED story at the moment, but just in case, we're around episode 36-ish. Heading into the home stretch and be prepared for a lot of battle chapters, drama, reunions, and—well—deaths. Until then, however, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next one will have the showdown between Eclipse and Namarra. 
> 
> Until then, please take care of yourselves! And thanks again for stopping by.
> 
> Strata


	42. Girl Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse vs. Namarra

Girl Bonding

Namarra cheated.

After having known her and understood her actions—not to mention her level of insanity—for the past couple of months, Eclipse should have expected the foul play, but she was so caught up in her own quest for solace, she decided to go along and ignore all the red flags. Now, as she was running through the rain on the beach—in a bikini top and shorts no less—trying to dodge both bullets and raindrops, she could only curse. "Damn you, Namarra!" She just heard the Natural’s laugh and her footsteps slow as she aimed. The shot was muffled by the rainfall, but it was still an interesting sound to hear a speeding bullet cut through falling droplets and fly past her ear. Sure, she might have been hearing things, but it was a bit more nostalgic thinking of it the other way.

Wow, maybe she _was_ turning into a masochist.

Another bullet grazed the top of her shoulder, the bare skin burning after the attack and it didn't feel any better when the warm rain melted into the wound. Cursing, she jumped over a fallen tree and veered back into the forest. "It's your turn to run, dumbass!"

"It's more fun this way!" Namarra shouted, Eclipse imagining her skipping as well because of the chipper way she said the phrase.

Ducking under some branches, Eclipse zigzagged through the trees, wincing every so often when her sprained right ankle twisted awkwardly on the uneven ground. That was a courtesy from her nice tumble down a steep hill and the deep cuts across her stomach were thanks to the bush she had landed in. She wasn't entirely sure on how injured her opponent was, but Eclipse had watched her take some less than intelligent leaps off rock faces and waterfalls. At one point the Natural had hyper extended her elbow, but Namarra didn't even seem to have registered the pain.

Eclipse's left hand reached into her pocket to pull out an extra magazine. She had two left and only one gun. Grand. She had dropped her second gun about three hours ago, approximately 18 hours into the "game." The rules of the game itself weren't what made it fall apart, more like the people playing. It was all going smoothly until Namarra got bored and decided to spruce things up by firing her gun when Eclipse had practically won. She had her pinned against a tree trunk with a knife to the back of her neck when the Natural wiggled out of her grip, reached out her finger and pulled the trigger of the gun at her waist, grazing her thigh and narrowly missing Eclipse's foot. The shot had startled her enough that Namarra got free and started shooting. Somehow, Eclipse had managed to run away unscathed and the game had been hunter vs. hunter ever since.

Feeling the top of the magazine, she wrapped two fingers around it and pulled it out of her pocket. Jumping over a downed tree, she misjudged how heavy the rain had made a low-hanging branch and took a twig against the forehead. A leaf stuck there and the magazine dropped to the ground. Cursing, she spun around, slipped on the soft earth and scrambled behind a trunk after grabbing the magazine. Swiping off the leaf, she waited and listened for Namarra's footsteps.

The Natural's feet slowed as she neared Eclipse's position. It was possible Namarra saw her duck behind the tree, but she had had a good lead thanks to the Natural's involuntary slowing to aim her gun and fire. Seeing as they had limited ammo, Namarra had to have tried at least 75 percent of the time.

Walking now, Eclipse tensed as the Natural's feet stepped by. If she was spotted—and she wasn't able to knock the gun from her hand—Eclipse would be dead before she could curse Lathan for even helping her get into ZAFT way back when and starting this whole masquerade. The redhead still had her gun, but a shooting match seemed to be getting nowhere. Hand-to-hand combat was making more progress on both exhausting them and making them take more risks, but that wasn't going to do any good if one of them could just fire a gun and say, "Too bad, so sad." Holding her breath, Eclipse reached out and grabbed Namarra's right foot as she passed, pulling it upwards to send her scrambling to the ground.

Namarra’s hands hit first, the gun slapping hard into the weeds nearby and getting lost in the foliage when the Natural was forced to turn away and dodge Eclipse's combat knife. Namarra rolled across the ground, tucking her head under and getting as much distance between the two of them as she could. Eclipse chased after her for a little bit, slashing down at the human ball, but making no real contact. She jumped away, however, when Namarra unsheathed her own knife and swung it out wide, the redhead jumping over the attack and stepping a couple of feet backwards to get set for the onslaught.

Namarra scrambled to her feet, putting a hand on a boulder and pushing herself up slowly. "Now, who's gonna win this round?"

"We're been at this for _hours,_ are we done yet?" Eclipse asked, fiddling with the magazine in her hand before finally deciding on sticking it back into her pocket.

The Natural, however, had other plans. She smirked and whipped her free hand at Eclipse—slightly occupied with putting away the magazine—sending a fair-sized stick speeding towards her face. Eclipse brought her arm up to block it, dropped the magazine and spun at the same time. The stick bounced off her left forearm and to the side. With the knife still in her hand, Eclipse brought the blade up across her left side and lower back. Knowing Namarra to be someone to go through with her threats, Eclipse figured she'd aim for a killing blow.

Or at least something to put her in a _lot_ of pain.

As anticipated, Namarra's knife jab to Eclipse's side scraped off the metal of her own weapon, leaving the Natural vulnerable. Eclipse finished her spin and brought her right elbow down on Namarra's back.

Or so she had planned.

For a split second she hesitated. There on the Natural's back were bruises, a _lot_ of bruises. Knowing how much face-to-face time the two of them have been giving each other, she would have expected those wounds to be her fault, but they were a yellow-brown color still with the deep purple and blue in the middle. They were older than just a couple of hours ago, but still severe enough to leave lasting welts. _That's strange._

Namarra didn't notice any of it, probably figuring Eclipse got hung up on some of Mother Nature's debris. She would have avoided the attack anyway, having collapsed instantly to the ground when her jab was parried. The dead weight and gravity pulled her quickly to the dirt so she could dodge the attack and throw her opponent off balance. Eclipse fumbled after the miss, spinning on wet grass not working as well as she had thought. Namarra rolled onto her side then and swiped her feet out in a half circle, sending Eclipse stumbling onto the forest floor.

Eclipse did the one thing she was always taught never to do when she was falling: try and catch herself. She jammed her fingers on a tree trunk and when she tried to bring her other arm across, the wet and rotten bark slipped off, forcing her to the ground in a less than advantageous way next to the fallen Natural.

Having flipped over onto her back, Namarra kicked out and hit Eclipse's stomach. The redhead buckled in pain, but was determined to keep the Natural from lashing out again. Bringing up her knife, she set it at her stomach and watched with a sadistic smile as the Natural took the blade through the shoe and into her right heel. The knife didn't go in too far, but it was enough to issue a small, painful yelp from her lips. Namarra’s foot bounced backward and she turned into another roll, leaving Eclipse lying with the bloody-tipped knife.

"Shit, what d'ya do that for?" Namarra cursed, twisting and getting to her feet in one fluid motion. She tried putting weight on the heel but cursed, Eclipse watching her face contort in restrained discomfort.

Eclipse got to her feet too, trying to regain her lost breath and squeeze out her own pain, but the hand grabbing the skin around her stomach wasn't enough. Eclipse had been very confident in her hand-to-hand combat until Namarra had been her opponent. Now she was exhausted and had more bruises than bones in her body.

And she was lucky none of them were broken.

"Why are you bruised so badly?"

"What d'ya mean? We've been at this for nearly twenty hours. If I'm not bruised," she spit off to the side, "it means you suck at this."

"There're some older marks on your back. What happened?" Eclipse spit as well, wiping the painful drool and bile mixture from her mouth.

"Why do you care?"

"Namarra—"

"Ready for round two?" she asked quickly, interrupting the girl talk and going right back to what most likely made her a bit more comfortable. Fighting was such a simple, emotional bullet train. Stomping her heel against a tree root one more time, she looked up and smiled, having gotten used to the pain.

Eclipse spit again and watched her carefully. The redhead had to admit she was having fun, the adrenaline racing through her drowned out the frustrations and the heartbreak she had been receiving from her welcome back home. In fact, the fight was a gracious relief, allowing her to vent her anger at the world and everything else while still staying within the bounds of legality. Well, for the most part. But Namarra's actions were still suspicious. If she had wanted her dead, she could have done it a long time ago. Hell, they could have destroyed each other five times over by that point, but it was almost as if neither of them was trying to. They were both venting, she could tell, but Eclipse had no idea why. What was going on in that Natural's head?

The redhead spit one last time for good measure and wiped her mouth before giving Namarra a reply. "That was only round one?"

The Natural smirked and reached down to the front of her waistband, pulling out .45 caliber handgun and making Eclipse wonder how she had managed to run around for so long with that scrunched—well—there. "Wait for it," she said, checking the magazine. "Wait for it."

Eclipse's knife hand tensed as the Natural aimed the gun.

"Ding!"

Namarra could have claimed Eclipse cheated then, because she had thrown the knife before the Natural had even started saying the word, "ding." Call it payback. The knife didn't penetrate the weapon, but the metals scraped against each other, the high-pitched screech drowned out by the low rumbling of a coming storm. The blade tumbled then, spinning in the air end over end after the ricochet and heading toward Namarra's bare shoulder. Cursing, she pulled out of the way and fired at the same time, probably hoping the bullet would distract Eclipse enough that she would stumble during her charge. Eclipse did stumble, but it was more for her advantage. Ducking low, she dove into Namarra's stomach, the force taking them both violently to the ground.

Namarra landed back against another tree root, her spine bending awkwardly across the jutting wood. Eclipse, however, didn't come out unscathed either, her knuckles scraping against the bark and rugged knots. That stumble hadn't given her body enough leverage to pull away from the tackle in time, leaving them both injured in the lunge. Grand. Cursing, she left some skin on the bark and pulled her hands free just in time to throw up a forearm to block the Natural's swinging right.

Namarra's fingers cracked as they made contact with Eclipse's right arm, but not the bad kind of crackling, more like it was a much needed relief for the cramped fingers. In fact, Eclipse would have waited for a thank you if she wasn't in the middle of a counterattack. Swinging her left arm across her body, her bloody knuckles scraped across Namarra's lower jaw, her blood and jagged skin probably doing more damage than the punch itself. Namarra had absorbed the blow, arching her back even more across the root and moving her head with the attack, coming away with nothing more than a weak metallic taste across her tongue. The move had also given her a little more leverage. Eclipse's equilibrium was thrown off, forcing her to try and clamp her knees harder against the pinned Natural's sides, but it wasn't so simple. Namarra had hoisted up her knees at the same time and cradled them between the redhead's legs. Bracing her arms on the ground, she hoisted Eclipse up and over her head, sending her tumbling a couple feet behind her.

Eclipse recovered quickly, however, somehow managing to duck into an awkward roll to absorb the throw and get her back onto her feet. Up before her opponent, she didn't miss the opportunity to possibly end the game. Bracing herself, she did a roundhouse kick to Namarra's side as she was getting up, anticipating her movements a bit better than the Natural had figured. Or not. _Damn, this is fun and all but—damn!_ the redhead thought. Namarra smirked and brought both hands up to block the kick, Eclipse cursing when she saw the unmistakable flash of the handgun still in the Natural's grip.

Pushing the kick out wide, Namarra swung up the gun and shot, aiming in Eclipse's general direction, but not having enough time to go for the instant kill. Eclipse grabbed the barrel of the gun as it fired, feeling the rush of the bullet both as it left the gun and when it grazed past her left ear. She also felt the slide as it automatically moved backwards to reload and the unmistakable pain of pinched skin between the metals. The blood was instant in her left palm, but the pinch was still too tight for her to just wiggle free without tearing a huge chunk of skin from her hand. Pulling the gun forward—deciding to take advantage of the situation and dislodging her palm at the same time—she tensed to give another punch, but ended up cursing when Namarra's forehead met her own. She must have been too distracted to aim the headbutt because typically the target was the nose, but the surprise attack was enough to make Eclipse stagger; however, not enough to let go of the gun. They both fell to their knees, dazed.

Namarra recovered first—the blow giving her a nice migraine, but she had braced herself better than her opponent—and tried dislodging Eclipse's gel-like grip. Nothing worked, the skin tearing with each shake, but was never completely torn away. Namarra finally managed to steady the gun on her chest, Eclipse's hand and dead weight not allowing her a perfect head shot.

Her finger pulled the trigger.

 _Bang_.

Namarra was more than impressed by Eclipse's reflexes, having averted the shot at the last second up and away from her body. She had yanked her pinched skin from the slide before the gun went off, the chunk of flesh dropping to the ground on a patch of dirt, a pale peach color against the black earth. The exposed muscle now grasping the bottom of the barrel, Namarra watched a trail of blood streak down her arm, following the red stream until she made contact with faded grey eyes. Namarra let out an excited laugh.

"Final round," the Berserker hissed.

* * *

"I can't believe we're letting Gluttony pilot," Phoebe moaned, strapped to the chair and keeping pressure on a gunshot wound to her upper arm. The bullet had been pulled out not five minutes ago and was actually floating around somewhere in the shuttle, but the wound in her upper thigh still held its unwanted gift.

Melanie was pressing a cloth to that one, one hand reaching up and bracing herself on the ceiling so she could keep herself steady. "He's the only one healthy enough to."

"More like the only one able to use both hands," FS muttered, fixing the bandage around his palm. "Melanie, tell me how you came out unscathed?"

"I was the one to set up the explosives," she replied, sounding so nonchalant the others wanted to slap the cocky look off her face. "We're lucky to get out alive because of me."

FS and Stray exchanged glances, biting their tongues because they knew arguing would only make things worse. Yes, Melanie was the one to find the hand grenades near the last shuttle and, if it wasn't for their awesome coverage, she and the explosives would have—well—exploded. So, the three of them took all the damage while Melanie got to play grenade launcher.

"Lucky bitch," Phoebe muttered, wincing when Melanie added some extra pressure to her leg.

FS sighed and shook his head, massaging his forehead with his free hand. His whole organization was gone. He had fled them in an utter panic, more worried about his own skin than the better good of SIN-ED; or whatever was left of it. His ignorance made him sick. Missing something as simple as the drug supply? It was such a juvenile mistake. He was so blind.

"Revelin, where are we going?" Stray asked, flipping a few levers above his head. When he didn't reply, FS felt Stray's glare turn his way. He didn't want to respond after that look. "Revelin, I have to know where we're going."

"Give me a sec."

"Where _can_ we go?" Melanie asked.

"Does Hell count?" Phoebe retorted.

"Speak for yourself," her sister muttered.

"What was that?"

FS was going to yell at them, but their arguing was giving him a little time to think about their destination.

"Revelin."

"Do we have atmospheric entrance gear?"

Stray shook his head, frowning. "No."

"Stuck in space then?" The pilot nodded and FS started massaging his forehead again. There was only one place he could think they could go, but his headache grew at the thought of it. ZAFT was rumored to have been watching the Mendel Colony since Eclipse and the rest of her team had investigated all those months ago. If they were keeping tabs, the security had most likely gotten lighter over the months—given the war effort—but it would be the easiest spot for them to be found.

"Mendel?" Stray suggested, the look in his eyes proving he was thinking the same thing as his friend. Not wanting the girls to hear, his lips moved with the words, "Do we have a choice?" FS didn't respond verbally, but he mouthed his own curse and looked back down at the controls on the console in front of him.

Phoebe and Melanie continued their bickering, probably trying to blow off their frustration by using their blood relation as some kind of masking device. Out of all the other ways they could blow off steam and agitation, FS was thankful they chose the less bloody and more clothed of the options.

FS vaguely listened, the noise like the white snow of the broken television they had back on Earth. They had no idea if ZAFT would be there when they arrived and, in the condition they were in, they would make one poor attempt at defending themselves. Three of them were unable to walk—Stray was hit in the foot—and even though they all had at least one good arm to shoot with, it only meant they could aim and fire while backed in a corner. Great, they could be an immobile army stuck with their asses to a wall and an array of machine guns peppering them with bullets.

"How are our rations on this shuttle?"

"Non-existent," Stray replied, his mouth twitching as his frown sank even more. He looked annoyed, his eyes narrowing to match his lips. "You're avoiding the issue."

"We'd be walking—no, limping to our deaths."

"Yes, because we're in such a better situation here."

They stared at each other. What else could they do? Stray was making sense and so was FS. Both on different levels, and yet both valid points. Shit. Phoebe and Melanie had stopped their bickering and were watched them, Phoebe shifting her shoulders so she could see them all comfortably. And there they all sat, exchanging glances in silence. Each Sin had his or her own opinion, but they all had to agree on something. The question was, what?

With the engine off, they stared in a deafening silence, the adrenaline slowly leaving their bodies and their eyes getting heavy. As soon as they had reached the shuttle, they took off, no questions asked and no time taken to see if anyone else wanted to join. They had all been on a paranoid kind of sleepwalking ever since, their brains and limbs working, but not exactly in a healthy way. The biggest problem then, however, was the fact that they had to figure out what they were going to do before they all fell asleep. The last thing they needed was to be drifting aimlessly with all them bleeding out.

"H…is so…there?" The radio brought them back, their heads all jerking at the same time as if it was the magic word to break them out of their hypnotized trance. FS and Stray exchanged glances. "Any…all?"

Turning to Melanie and Phoebe, they finally all agreed on one thing and nodded. Stray brought the mic up to his mouth. "Depends on who's asking."

* * *

The Berserker stretched forward, grabbing the front Namarra's bikini and pulling the surprised Natural down into her waiting fist. Eclipse swung her right hand hard, connecting with Namarra's left cheek and sending her tumbling to the side. Not wasting another opportunity, the Berserker twisted her opponent's gun hand, bending it awkwardly backwards and putting a knee into Namarra's stomach. The Natural's mouth opened in a scream, but the breath was pushed out of her, the shriek becoming a silent cry as Eclipse's weight most likely bruised more than a couple of ribs.

"Now who's having fun?" Eclipse asked, leaning close to Namarra's face and smiling at her pain-filled eyes. An involuntary tear trickled from the corner of her right eye and the Berserker smirked, bending closer. Parting her lips, she paused a moment over the tear and glanced sideways at Namarra's suspicious—but surprisingly scared—gaze and felt herself smile, her hot breath blowing against the moist skin. The tear continued its trail down the side of her face, but Eclipse caught it before it left the Natural's cheek, licking her tongue over the salty surface. Namarra tried to pull away and bring up her free hand, but the Berserker tightened her grip on the Natural's wrist, stopping just before she knew the bone was going to snap and cut through her skin. The other hand she pinned to the ground with her elbow and forearm, the bone crunching into Namarra's bicep.

Leaning back again, Eclipse let out a quick chuckle when she saw Namarra's contorted face, and laughed even more when she saw the blood streak left by her tongue on her opponent's cheek. Apparently, that headbutt had done more than just made her dizzy. Swallowing, Eclipse felt the hot blood slipping down her throat and smacked her lips a couple of times to enjoy the metallic taste. "Why don't you scream for me?" she asked, jabbing her knee harder into Namarra's gut. The Natural cringed in pain, but still remained silent. Now glaring at the Berserker, she didn't the only thing she was able to and spit in her face.

The saliva trickled down Eclipse's cheek, her smirk flipping into a frown as her shoulder shrugged upwards to wipe it off. "Cute." Namarra's eyes narrowed, but soon closed in pain again when the Berserker shifted her weight lower onto her abdomen. How Eclipse had missed that look over the past weeks. It was nice to be able to fight without any boundaries again; almost as if it were old times when she was taking out SIN-ED members and no one gave a damn.

Yes, just like the time she had been called a monster.

Bringing back her right hand, she punched down at the pinned Natural. Namarra brought her newly freed arm up to block, a deep laugh screeching from her throat as Eclipse beat her fist into the defenseless soldier. Laughter wasn't exactly a response the Berserker had anticipated. Eclipse stopped her assault after nearly eight punches, feeling the Natural's blood trickling down her fingers and onto the forest floor. Namarra pulled down her arm then, a fresh cut across her brow dribbling across her forehead and into the crease above her eyes.

Her Berserker eyes.

"It's about time we got serious. How about we even the odds?" Namarra asked, her eye twitching when the blood got dangerously close to the corner.

"This is going to be nothing more than a cat fight," Eclipse muttered, her hand still twisting Namarra's wrist back awkwardly. She bent it even more to prove a point, but the Natural didn't seem to care. In fact, she didn't even seem to notice.

"And what Berserker doesn't enjoy that?" Namarra asked, smiling with the tip of her bloodied tongue sticking through her teeth. A nice set of bite marks were set across that tongue, making the grin nothing more than a childish attempt to piss her off. Well, it worked and Eclipse's sense of boredom from the all-out bitch fight turned to an adrenaline-induced wonderment. She found her Berserker half did enjoy the prospect of a cat fight in any definition of the term.

Namarra attacked first, pulling her free arm across Eclipse's body to try and rake her with her nails. It was definitely a feral attack and Eclipse almost laughed from the impulsiveness of it all. At least she would have if her attempt to dodge was enough to pull her away entirely. Namarra snagged the bathing suit top as she passed, pulling Eclipse down and to the side. The grip and pin loosened after that. It shouldn't have been that easy to bring down the Berserker, but Namarra had pushed upward with her injured wrist, amazingly not forcing the bone to snap and break through the skin. Thanks to the Berserker gene, however, pain was rarely an issue when the only thing on the mind was primal pleasure.

Eclipse tucked into a roll, forcing her body to keep going instead of getting stuck under the Natural's pin and have a repeat of the last time. It wasn't an easy task, but after some fierce elbows to Namarra's ribs and neck—while getting her own facial treatment from her counterpart—she managed to roll away and up on her feet. The Natural did the same after a quick recovery and they were both back to square one.

Eclipse had one knife left in her left hand—one of the smaller combat knives she could grab—but she was lucky to have any kind of weaponry at all. Her empty gun had been dropped—or thrown—sometime in the excursion, but she still had one magazine left. A lot of good that would do if she didn't have a gun to put it in.

Or, she might end up getting creative.

Namarra seemed to be in the same boat weapon wise, most likely having only one knife left and possibly another gun. Eclipse wasn't entirely sure what she had, but even though the Natural enjoyed a good fist fight every once and a while, she knew Namarra loved her firearms. Eclipse probably grabbed more knives and ammo, but Namarra most likely grabbed more guns and planned on throwing them away when they ran out of ammo.

Damn, that island was going to be one weaponry junk house as soon as they were through with it.

For the next moment or so, they stared at each other. Namarra was rubbing her wrist and Eclipse was fixing her bikini top. Her Berserker half had given her the luxury of not caring about her appearance, but she felt she should give her upper body a little sense of support. The last thing she needed was to be free—and with no body armor, for that matter—while running around an isolated island dodging bullets. Not to mention she might get a bit chilly in the cool, damp air. At any rate, the whole thing was rather humorous. Two Berserkers worrying about the minor hiccups in life and not about the bigger picture.

Like killing each other.

Eclipse made the first move that time. Reaching into her left pocket, she felt the top of her remaining magazine. Namarra watched her actions, her stare shifting back and forth from Eclipse's hands to her eyes, trying to figure out what she was up to. Pushing down on the top of the magazine, Eclipse slipped out one bullet, and then two more when she saw the Natural's pupiless eyes narrow. One bullet just wasn't going to be enough of a diversion.

"I know what you're up to and it won't work," Namarra said, her injured hand moving to her forehead to wipe away the trickling blood before it got too close to her eyes and distracted her. Pulling the limp hand down the line of her face, a blood trail streaked from the wound, to her cheek, and then stopped at her chin. Her arm dropped to her side afterwards dangling back and forth like a puppet without its strings.

"Well, seeing as we're genetically built the same, I wouldn't be surprised if our primal instincts acted similar."

Waiting an extra second—hoping to catch her by surprise—Eclipse gripped one of the bullets as best she could and threw it at her Berserker counterpart. Namarra dodged as expected, her sidestep to the left looking far more graceful than a tired and injured soldier should be able to pull off. Her shoulder ducked low, her knees bending and her body weight shifting forward onto the balls of her feet. Crouching down slightly, she leaped forward and towards Eclipse.

Eclipse threw one more bullet—adding to the diversion—and braced for the close quarters combat after the Natural dodged. She had expected as much, knowing her Berserker half couldn't stand a gun fight unless it involved overkilling with machine guns or sniper rifles. Besides, Berserker vs. Berserker made her blood freeze and boil at the same time, an interesting combination when she could feel her face overheat with excitement as a shiver traveled from the tip of her neck straight down her spine.

Namarra jabbed her knife at Eclipse's right arm, hoping to keep her from throwing—or even make her drop—the last bullet hiding between her fingers. Eclipse dodged by stepping backwards and turning sideways, the knife going safely through air instead of flesh as intended. Namarra had other things in mind, however, when she attacked that side. Her body bent downward with the thrust and while Eclipse was distracted, the Natural reached around with her left hand to grab Eclipse's knife. Her fingers wrapped around the blade just where it met the hilt and pulled, kicking backward at Eclipse's knees at the same time so she had to choose between dodging and her last bit of weaponry. To Namarra's surprise, Eclipse chose both. Turning her feet to the side, she squatted slightly and forced her knees out wide, her weight balanced on her toes and her heels up in the air like some bad ballerina pose. Namarra's kick went right through the middle. It was an awkward move, but effective for the most part. Before the Natural could pull her foot back through, Eclipse closed her knees, Namarra's ankle caught between her legs. Eclipse went with the flow, falling down backwards and pulling the knife at the same time. Namarra went down too—releasing the knife instantly—but was able to stay upright by doing the splits when Eclipse let go of her ankle. Rolling backwards, Eclipse used her hands to hoist herself back up to her feet. Namarra regained her footing as well, shaking off the blood flowing from the cut in her palm and immediately starting up the attack once more.

Eclipse kept the knife in her left hand as she parried Namarra's attack, the bullet still lingering between her right fingers and the tip starting to cut into the soft skin at the base of her knuckles. It was more annoying than anything, but the Berserker didn't want to just drop the bullet. Given, at that time she really didn't know what she was going to use it for, but she was sure her primal instincts would come up with something.

Namarra spun on the balls of her feet, side slashing at Eclipse and laughing when every attack either ended with a parry or a dodge. They were getting nowhere but, damn, it was fun.

Eclipse was having much the same problem, a slash at Namarra's neck turning into a duck and low kick at Eclipse's ankles. She jumped over the attack, but didn't expect both of the Natural's feet to swipe by like upside-down helicopter blades, so when gravity brought her back to the ground, she ended up getting tripped anyway. Falling down onto her butt, her body braced for the leaping tackle, but it never came. Instead, a knife flew in her direction, the blade slicing the side of her neck and sticking upright behind her in the dirt, now turning to mud thanks to the increased rainfall and squall overhead. The wound wasn't terrible, but it still pissed her off, knowing Namarra had gotten that close to killing her and she could do nothing but sit on her ass.

Namarra loomed over her as she sat in the mud, smirking and unsheathing the last knife from the back waistband of her shorts. Damn, no wonder she wanted to have a "grab what you can" game because she could pack a lot of weaponry. She smiled and Eclipse cursed. "Stop laughing!" She stabbed the nearest foot, but Namarra hopped away.

So cocky.

Reaching up and over, she snagged the piece of her skin on the dirt and threw it up with the bullet at the Natural's face. Some mud went with the flesh-bullet combo and while the mud made a nice splatter pattern on her forehead cut, the flesh hit her right eye and the bullet her upper cheekbone. The attack startled her, Namarra forced to step back and recover. Eclipse took advantage of the opportunity and—while avoiding the panicked attacks—got around behind her, putting her blade at the Natural's throat and twisting the knife out of her hand. Eclipse's blade sunk into her neck, cutting Namarra's skin, but the Berserker had to wait for the right moment to pull the knife across. She had to wait for that perfect moment when the blade grazed the tendons and arteries so that when she sliced across the throat, it would be a killing blow, not just a maiming one. Her tongue ran across her lips as she pushed, and her teeth opened in a sadistic smile when she knew the moment was close enough. Her strength would make it a killing stroke even if she didn't exactly reach the distance. Tensing, she pulled.

But stopped.

Blinking, she shook her head and let the blade fade forward as the feral need drained from her mind. She had almost killed Namarra.

"Enough," she breathed into her ear instead, the adrenaline still high in her system, but the fatigue starting to show through once she had regained some control of her mind. No two enemies should have been fighting and running for almost twenty hours straight. It seemed like bloodlust overload.

"We're not done until one of us is dead," Namarra responded, her breathing coming ragged through her open lips. Eclipse figured it was because of the cut across her neck, but she didn't want to assume and then let her guard down. She was still berserk after all and had a tendency to do the unexpected. "Go ahead and kill me if you want to be done."

"Namarra—" Eclipse started, but never finished. The Natural grabbed the knife—managing to get more of the hilt this time—and pulled it forward. Eclipse's hand went with it and it wasn't until too late she understood what was going on. "Fu—" she started and tried pulling away, but she wasn't quick enough. Namarra put the side of Eclipse's knife hand in front of her mouth and bit down hard on the wrist.

Her jaws sank through the soft skin, both rows of teeth penetrating between the two bones and sinking deeper and deeper, but it wasn't until Namarra ground those teeth back and forth across the flesh that she felt and tasted the warm blood in her mouth. The movement was probably overkill, but the Natural couldn't resist indulging her Berserker side even a little bit. 

Numbing pain shot up through Eclipse's forearm and into the shoulder, her entire body going limp from shock. It had to have been a pretty bad wound if the Berserker couldn't even block it out.

Knowing she was stunned, Namarra took the advantage, shaking loose of the hold and driving an elbow into Eclipse's stomach. To finish the attack, she swung her right arm around and punched her jaw, sending Eclipse to the ground. "Aw, you missed your chance," she cooed, spitting a couple of times to get the blood out of her mouth. "Since when does a Berserker hesitate at the kill?" Eclipse had every intention of replying, but her body had other things in mind. Turning to the side, she dry heaved, having nothing in her stomach worth throwing up. "How pathetic," Namarra said, walking over and winding up for another kick to her side. Eclipse rolled a couple of times after the blow, still trying to get her breath back. "Don't tell me this is the pathetic way you die? In your own bile?"

Eclipse turned her head upwards and matched Namarra's glare, the two pupiless eyes locking stares. The fight in Eclipse was far from gone and they both new it, but looking at each other then, they saw something else: excitement. They were having fun. Every time someone had seen their eyes, he or she was terrified and screamed in a futile attempt to mask the piss draining between their legs. Eclipse and Namarra, however, were not only able to match the glares, but they couldn't help laughing, a chuckle escaping Eclipse's lips first. It was all so ironic. The only other person to accept their monstrous half was a person with the same sleeping demon inside of her. Namarra joined the laughter and soon they both collapsed to their knees in maniacal amusement. It was all so insane.

But neither of them had ever felt so alive and accepted until that moment.

* * *

"I'd say I believe it's you, Wrath, but I really can't understand a single word you're saying," FS said, taking the radio away from Stray after a couple of failed attempts to make some clear contact with the other end.

"Come…Mendel…gone."

"There's no way we're going there just because you say it's safe."

"Fu…you…Pride," the radio stuttered, FS rolling his eyes. He would have admitted he knew that to be Wrath just by the how foul his mouth was and how he was the only one who seemed to have enough balls to speak to him that way. He kept the observation to himself, however, and gave up the mic when Melanie took it from his hands. If there was anyone to get his attention, it was one of the Lust twins. After all, they had connections with the other SIN-ED members he didn't even want to know about let alone replicate.

"This is Lust."

"Mel…ie?"

"Prove to me you're Wrath."

"Last month…ogie-style…seven…asms."

Melanie seemed to think about it for a second and the others just cocked an eyebrow. They understood the gist of that and leave it to Wrath and Lust to come up with that kind of proof for identification. "Wrath was never one to keep his tongue tied. He probably bragged about that minutes after he ducked out."

"Glutt…two mon…thong."

The attention was on Stray now and he leaned back and thought about the response much like Melanie had done. FS felt he was a bit calmer than he should have been in such a revealing situation, but he shouldn't have expected anything less from his eccentric friend.

Stray stroked his chin for a few seconds, nodding to himself every once and a while and counting off his fingers as if trying to decide on exactly how long ago any of that had happened. "Color?" he asked.

"G-string."

Funny how that was the only phrase to come through clearly.

Stray turned to FS and Melanie and nodded. "Yup, that's Wrath."

FS sighed and Melanie gave a small giggle before returning to her sister who was trying to cover up her hysterical laughter. FS took the mic back before any more secrets slipped out. "We'll rendezvous before we land in Mendel. If we see any signs of ZAFT we'll run."

"Rog…hat."

Stray started the engines once the communication ended, changing directions to start heading to the L4 colony cluster. FS watched him suspiciously, noticing that he was now humming quietly to himself. He also had a bouncy—almost perky—look to his movements, as if he was dancing in his head. To what music and for what end FS really didn't want to know.

Stray turned to him after a couple of moments, blinking innocently and cocking his head to the side. "Problem?"

FS sighed.

* * *

"To be honest, I thought you'd be dead by now."

"Oh ye of little faith," Eclipse replied, falling back against a tree and putting pressure on her injured wrist. She was still berserk, but she could feel her genes slowly going back to their dormant state. Even a Berserker had to feel some kind of exhaustion. "I can hold my own, y'know."

"I figured as much—well, hoped for that matter because I didn't want this to be a boring waste of my time."

"You really don't think I'm strong, do you?"

Namarra shrugged as she fell back against a tree trunk across the way. She was still snapped as well, but no doubt her berserk edge was fading too. "It's not that I don't think you're strong—in fact I have a much higher level of respect for you now—but it just surprised me to see another Berserker, let alone someone who doesn't fight the same way I do."

"What, you mean someone who doesn't cheat?"

"Actually, yes," she admitted, reaching up to test the blood flow on her neck. Pulling back her hand to see the damage, she continued. "But even if you really didn't cheat—we won't talk about the incident with round two—I can tell you still hold the same bloodlust as me. I was just surprised you didn't kill me before, especially since you were berserk."

"I guess I didn't want to kill someone just like me." Eclipse shrugged and then cringed when her ribs throbbed with the movement. She had to catch her breath before she could explain more. "I will admit we are different for other reasons as well. For example, I seem to prefer close quarter combat while you like using your firearms."

"Depends on the circumstances. I'll kill someone with my teeth or even a flying fork if I have to."

That brought a small smile to her lips and she held up her wrist for proof. "Maybe Berserkers are just resourceful and it has nothing to do with preferences."

Namarra shrugged and ended up doing the same thing as the redhead had done seconds before, cringe in pain. "I really have no idea. I don't know much about this—what shall we call it—phenomenon?" She made it like a question, but Eclipse really didn't have a better term suggestion so she continued. "I just know it happens either when I'm terribly pissed or when I'm unusually sad."

"Same here."

They both faded into silence then, the two of them probably trying to figure out how badly their bodies were injured. If they were able to move within the next couple of minutes their fight would most likely start up again, but with their Berserker halves fading away and their pain tolerance slowly slipping, Eclipse doubted either of them wanted to move let alone start throwing punches.

Namarra finally broke the silence after their eyes had faded back to normal. "Y'know what, my back really hurts."

"That's what happens when you jump down a waterfall with your ass first."

"I slipped and you pinning me over that tree root really didn't help."

"Sorry, I wasn't trained as a chiropractor."

Namarra smiled and then paused, holding up a finger but then cursing when it ended up being the pointer on her sprained wrist. "This doesn't leave the island. Me jumping off the semi-miniature waterfall that is. What happens here stays here."

"Good, because I think I missed the bush on my last bathroom break."

Namarra paused again. "You mean my shots were so good you didn't _need_ a bathroom break, right?"

"Like you said, nothing leaves the island."

There was another second of silence before they both broke down in laughter. They were pretty sure it had something to do with sleep deprivation, and the fact that everything hurt so much it was past the crying stage and onto the giddy laughter. It felt good. Well, the first couple of seconds felt good.

"Ah, my back!"

"Ah, my eye!"

"What happened to your eye?"

"There was a piece of bark sticking out!"

They laughed again, both falling down onto their sides and clutching their stomachs.

"I'm so hungry!"

"I saw some fish under the waterfall."

"You wouldn't want to go get some, would you?"

"Hell no."

They paused as they rolled onto their backs, staring at the little bits of sky they could actually see. Only moments ago it seemed as if the island was in the middle of some huge storm, but now the clouds were clearing and neither of them knew where the time had gone. It almost seemed nostalgic, two friends—well, people—watching the moving clouds, throbbing in pain. Yes, very memorable.

"Can we have a truce now?" Eclipse asked, now picking at the naked muscle on her left hand. Reaching down to her boots she untied the left one and took off her sock, wrapping the cloth around her hand and then doing the same thing for her bloodied wrist. "Or at least a ceasefire?"

"I was hoping for that ten minutes ago."

"What, as soon as you didn't kill me, you wanted to give up? You started this charade."

Namarra sighed, shaking her head. Eyes shifting to the forest floor, she grabbed her sprained wrist and tried twisting it around to see how much movement she had. "I guess I'm like you then; can't ignore a direct order. However," she continued, "I tweaked things to amuse my inner child—or sadist, in this case."

"What was your original order then?"

"To capture you."

"How cliché."

"You have no idea," she responded. "Thus, my reasons for the game. Besides, he never specified if he wanted you breathing. Just said, 'Bring her body to me.' Which, considering his personality, is kind of creepy for him to say."

"I feel so honored to be singled out."

Namarra laughed. "I don't think 'honored' is the right word. More like nauseous."

"So, who's the 'he?’"

She hesitated a moment. Eclipse couldn't tell if she was considering her loyalties or her head had gotten knocked around so much she had completely forgotten his name. "He's Muruta Azrael, leader of Blue Cosmos."

"Blue Cosmos?"

The Natural nodded. "I don't really know who gave him the authority to boss me around, but the guys and I have been following his command for the past—oh, I dunno. It's been a long time."

"I take it the guys are the other three soldiers I always see you with?" Her only response was a weak smile and then her eyes went instantly to the ground, Eclipse seeing them fade dark like some terrible memory. That made her gulp. Anything that could make Namarra feel like that had to be bad. "What happened?" It was a simple question, but the answer seemed stuck in the Natural’s mouth. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

" _Help_? Since when did you want to help me?"

"Namarra."

The Natural still stared at her feet, her hands now picking apart a twig she had found on the ground. She looked so young, Eclipse never noticing before because she had seemed so superior when they were fighting. Actually, she didn't even know her age. Never bothered to ask.

"Namarra, you can trust me. What happened?"

"Whatever that's worth when a Berserker says it," she replied, looking up shyly with a small smile. Eclipse didn't return the look and finally she sighed. "More like what's happening. The past few weeks have been," she paused, trying to find the right word, "interesting. They don't interact with me anymore or when they do, it always ends in a fist fight. We're even sleeping on different ends of the complex now."

"That explains the bruises."

"No, it explains shit," she spat. "It's as if suddenly I've become a diseased rat to them and they let me know at any second they can. It's just so—so—" She stopped, snapping a twig in half and—defeated—dropping it to the ground. "It's stupid."

"So, you don't know what's going on?"

"No."

Eclipse just nodded. What could she say? She knew how it felt to lose people close to her, but the attachment those four seemed to have surpassed what she had had with FS and Stray. In fact, after the display near Carpentaria, Eclipse envied Namarra. She had what she had wanted.

"Honestly, I'm scared to go back. Shani almost strangled me the other day."

Eclipse didn't remember seeing any marks around the Natural's neck, but after seeing the bruises, she didn't doubt they could still be there. But Shani of all people? Hadn't he been the one to calm her down that night at the movie theater? If Namarra was right and they were changing, those were some drastic personality shifts. What the hell could they be doing? Slowly, Eclipse traced the healing marks around her own neck. What was going on? Suddenly, the war seemed small compared to what might be happening behind the curtain. "So, what're you gonna do? I've never known you to give up."

"I may not have a choice. I rarely see the guys anymore and Azrael keeps me so busy with medical visits and simulation training there's no way I can look into it. So—maybe—leaving for a while will give me a chance to help them?"

Eclipse could tell she was baiting her into making some kind therapeutic answer, but she didn't have much to say. That was the decision she had come to when she had wanted to save FS and Stray, but that had yet to even come close to working. In fact, it probably worked worse than it would have if she had stayed by their sides. Finally, she sighed. "Namarra, I can't tell you what to do. In fact, I _don't_ know what you can do. If you want help with looking into the matter, I'll be willing to give you that assistance, but we can do that easily through messages. I will, however," she added when she saw Namarra's lips begin to fall into a frown, "invite you to stay in Orb."

"Orb? Why would I want to stay there?"

"We're pretty much a mob of misfits and they'd never turn you away."

"Never?" She cocked an eyebrow, a bit skeptical now. "Do they know you're a Berserker?"

"No, but I doubt it'd matter."

"Only because you have connections, right? I heard rumors of a certain governmental family member returning home. That isn't you by chance, is it? Been moonlighting as a Berserker assassin lately?"

Seeing her point, Eclipse didn't reply immediately. Knowing that her family heritage was probably why she wasn't attacked on the spot as soon as she entered the country, she couldn't blame her for the speculation. So, what would they do to Namarra? Yes, she was an Earth Forces soldier—for the most part—and after all, the _Archangel_ was docked there as well so there shouldn't be too much of a problem. But none of that even mattered, because Eclipse knew something else as well. "What choice do you have?"

Bringing her hand up, Namarra scratched the back of her head, pulling her fingers down to rub her neck. "Well—"

"Don't feel pressured to answer now." Eclipse cut her off, holing up a hand. "It's not an easy decision to make."

"I'll do it."

"Huh?"

"I'll come back to Orb. They have good technology and if you'll help me, I should be fine."

"Namarra—" She stopped, thinking the Natural was being too impulsive, but knowing that if she kept the conversation going, she would only get angry and probably end up following through with her rasher options. Yes, she was frustrated with her quick decision, but she'd have to wait for another moment to get her to think it through more. Like when her fingers weren't tracing a bruise around her neck and her eyes weren't fading away, lost in some reality-based nightmare. "For now, that's fine. So, should we at least make a fire or something? I mean, it's dark and we're starved."

"I don't want to move."

Eclipse opened up her mouth to argue, but thought about it for a second. "Y'know what? Me neither."

"No fire then. I'm going to bed."

"I hope some wild animal eats you."

"I saw some maggots over by your tree earlier."

"Love you too." Eclipse turned her head and closed her eyes, happy their bickering fest was far from over. After all the serious talk, it was nice to know some things would never change.

Even though her eyes were closed, the redhead couldn't fall asleep. Her body throbbed like she was just stuck through a meat grinder and then put back together with duct tape. It wasn't a great feeling and particularly sticky. After all the rain, she had hoped the sweat would be washed away, but she was just as grimy as after any other battle. And without a shower, sleeping in dirt. Eclipse sighed.

" _Kazesasou, kokage ni, utsubusete naiteru._

_Mi mo shiranu, watashi wo, watashi ga, miteita._

_Yuku hito no, shirabe wo, kanaderu, GITAARA._

_Konu hito no, nageki ni, hoshi ha ochite." (***)_

The verse was quiet, as if Namarra was on the verge of sleep and the song was more for comfort than for personal pleasure. The words whispered through her lips, the tune elegant, but also terribly sad. Eclipse was surprised to hear such a beautiful voice escaping the Natural's lips, but as she kept listening her shock shifted to a weary depression. The words became grim as the verse went on, like it was an elegy. Her breath caught in her throat as the song continued.

" _Yukanaide, donna ni sakende mo._

_ORENJI no, hanabira, shizuka ni, yureru dake._

_Yawarakana, hitai ni nokosareta._

_Te no hira no, kioku haruka._

_Tokoshie no, sayonara, tsuma hiku."_

She faded out at the end, the words slowly sighing from her lips and the notes a faint reminder of what they were before. Eclipse closed her eyes and squeezed them hard, concentrating on her breathing. The last line made her shiver and crying now seemed pointless, not to mention embarrassing. But the song and deep emotions made her exhaustion even heavier, her mind gliding downward until finally she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (***)
> 
> Song: "Akatsuki no Kuruma" ("Wheels of Dawn")  
> Singer: FictionJunction YUUKA
> 
> Personal Notes: I take no credit for this song whatsoever. I do not own it, nor do I own any part of it. It is an insert song for Gundam SEED and as such I felt it okay to put in the story. Since music is a main theme for this story, having the songs from the series worked well for both the plot and characterization. There will be more songs in the future for those same reasons.
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Strata-Assassin  
> \-------------------------  
> Happy New Year, everyone. A bit of a fan service for you, but it's also entirely my OCs, so we'll be getting back to the main cast again in the next chapter. 
> 
> Full-on fight scene for this, so do let me know if anything is confusing. I did another read through and made some very minor edits, but I've kept most of it in its original form. Rereading it, I find myself envious of my younger mind. I don't think I could ever write something like this again... A shame, really.
> 
> Other than that, not quite sure what to ramble on about. I hope everyone has a good end of the year and I hope you're just as ready to put 2020 behind you as I am. I am grateful for it because it's helped me rekindle my love for this story and this universe, but I will still be happy to see the back end of it. 
> 
> Everyone, please stay safe, enjoy your holidays, and I will see you again in the next chapter.
> 
> Strata


	43. To Play God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of the Battle of Orb.

To Play God

It was just Wrath and seven other SIN-ED members on the shuttle when they landed at Mendel. Wrath’s craft only had one remaining space suit, so he left them on the shuttle and met his four other companions to figure out what they were going to do next.

Phoebe docked their shuttle nearby and they all managed to scrounge up some spacesuits of their own. Technically, Mendel was people-friendly—especially since they sealed all of the docking hangars—but there was always that chance because they weren’t exactly in the same area as they had been the last time they had camped out in space.

Mendel was a mess. They had landed on the other side of the satellite, but the rubble was much the same. The only real difference, however, was that they seemed to be in a more scientific-based area than the high-class neighborhoods they were chilling in nearly half a year before. The dock they used was positioned next to a research facility, and thanks to some pissed off antics by FS, was now open to the general public—at least whomever would want to venture in. He had his experience from Januarias 4 to thank him for such hacking skills, but whatever he had done was on the scale of brilliance because not even SIN-ED could get into that side of the satellite before. Given, he had needed Stray’s help to get some machinery working to move the rubble so the shuttles could land safely, but it was good teamwork nonetheless. 

The complex took up about five acres and the biggest facility stood about four stories high, the crumbling walls looking less than sturdy as the floors went up. The other small buildings around the taller one were small with only one or two stories, the whole place looking like a ghost town with the glass lying on the ground and some of the doors thrown open at awkward angles.

“How did I _not_ know this was here? I thought I asked you guys to search the _whole_ satellite?” FS asked, his eyes narrowing at the rest of the team. He took off his helmet and wiped the sweat off his forehead, his hand moving slowly from his hairline down to his chin. Given the temperature, he shouldn’t have been sweating. It was cold in the colony now that the climate control had been disengaged and the temperature was probably stable at -2 degrees Celsius or so. The others took their helmets off as well when they reached the main door to the biggest building—most likely feeling just as claustrophobic. Their breath made small mist clouds in front of their faces and Melanie even shivered. 

“The area was sealed off and it’s not like you gave us a lot of time to find an alternate route in the first place,” Phoebe explained, Melanie helping her kneel down so she could see the hinge on the metal doors. It looked as if something had jammed the double doors against one another, making them a bit hard to move. “It’s almost as if this was a separate part of the satellite altogether.” 

Not really paying attention to her excuses, FS pushed her aside and used the piece of rubble in his hand to bash at the metal. His desperate decision echoed throughout the area, making more than a few of the Sins nervous. They weren’t completely sure ZAFT had abandoned the satellite and all of that noise would alert them for sure. That kind of carelessness was something the Lust twins or even Wrath would do, so why was FS the one banging a clump of cement against the steel frames and not them? The doors rattled and moaned in response to the abuse. One side had been bent enough that FS could reach in and pull the two apart. They didn’t give right away. Wrath—being the less injured of the five—stepped in to help, but FS pushed him out of the way.

“Pride, just let me help!” Wrath hissed, but Stray was the one to get his attention.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, the Sin pulled him backwards slowly. “Revelin.”

FS slapped the hand away and stared at his friend. The curses coming out of his mouth and the rude hand gestures proved he was pissed, but his sweat-ridden forehead and frantic eyes confirmed there was something else going on behind that stare. His pupils dilated and shrunk almost as quickly as his breath left his lungs. They darted from Stray, to the Lust girls, to Wrath, and then back to Stray before they made the same path again.

Stray felt a lump growing in his throat as he watched his friend. Did he miss something? Could losing SIN-ED really have affected him _this_ much? “R-Revelin, calm down.” He swallowed. Did he finally— “No,” he said out loud, putting both hands on FS’s shoulders and shaking them firmly. “Revelin, what’s wrong?”

FS’s breathing slowed back to normal and his eyes settled back down onto his comrade, a couple of blinks bringing his commanding stare back to his face instead of the scared underling. But his pupils still moved abnormally, giving away his true emotions even though his voice sounded like his usual, composed self. “Wrong you ask? Jaeger, SIN-ED’s lying in a bloody heap floating space and, to top it all off, this door won’t fuckin’ open!”

“It’s just a door. No need to get worked up.”

“Just—here.” Wrath squeezed past FS and pulled on the open door. Melanie helped Phoebe back to her feet and slid her arm over her shoulders. They both shared a look; one Stray didn’t miss. His pulse sped. Something had gone wrong.

Terribly wrong.

Wrath had the door open within the next couple of minutes, Melanie almost having to step in when two people—injured or no—were looking better than one.

“About time,” FS muttered. “If ZAFT is still keeping tags on this place, they probably won’t be able to find us in this damned building.” He walked inside first and the others obediently followed. “We might even be able to contact some survivors—at least more than what you managed to round up, Wrath.”

“Survivors?” Melanie asked.

“From SIN-ED”

“Ah,” Wrath replied and followed FS into one of the research offices. Stray saw him exchange a look with the Lust twins as he passed and bit his lip.

What the hell was going on?

* * *

Eclipse groaned and turned over, her muddy hair plastered against the layer of salt and dirt already on her cheek. A sharp pain shot up from her right hand to her shoulder. She didn’t even remember rolling over let alone lying on her injured wrist and arm. As she scrambled onto her back her neck cramped, her ankle turned wrong when she shifted, and she bit her swollen tongue.

It was definitely a bad morning.

“Ah, fuck.”

Instead of just turning her head, she had to twist her body entirely to look over at her soon-to-be hospital roomie. Namarra was on her back as well, her wrist tight on her left elbow and trying to rub away the pain that was there. Her contorted face and constant cursing was a good indication she was having just as bad of a morning. Eclipse couldn’t withhold a chuckle however, hearing the Natural’s curses come out in a mumbled gurgle because of the cut across her neck. She sounded like there was a wad of saliva wedged deep into her throat and she just felt like swashing it back and forth instead of spitting it out.

Namarra heard the laugh and immediately reached for a nearby stick to throw it. Or attempted to anyway. Having no force behind the toss, the stick just bounced on the ground roughly five centimeters or so from her hands. “Shut up,” she managed instead, letting her body go limp on the ground once more.

Eclipse was about to start laughing full force when her stomach and chest caved in pain. At some point in time, they should probably move. Hah, when?

“I’m hungry,” Namarra complained, forcing herself into a sitting position.

“And I’m thirsty. You’d think, after all that rain, we’d have enough of that water stuff.”

Namarra laughed once—more out of mockery than anything—but Eclipse was in too much pain to let it bother her too much. “More like we shouldn’t need baths, but I smell like a sweat-soaked jock and sock bag while you look like a three-year-old’s mud pie.”

“Then what do you propose?” Eclipse asked, shifting herself into a sitting position as well. “The waterfall you happened to cliff dive off of is about a mile to the East.”

“More or less,” she agreed, locking eyes with the redhead. Even though Eclipse hadn’t known Namarra for long, she still recognized that look. They were both thinking the same thing, neither of them wanted to do it, they didn’t have a choice, and they would be bitching at each other the whole time. 

Great, one of _those_ looks.

Eclipse sighed. “How good’s your memory?” she asked, her voice strained as her muscles screamed while she hoisted herself to her feet.

"Better than yours, I’m sure,” she scoffed, pushing on the tree behind her to get to her feet as well. Eclipse rolled her eyes, knowing she walked right into that comment. Keeping her opinions to herself, however, she took a couple ginger steps towards her new teammate. Namarra met her halfway and they just stood looking at each other. Ironically, they were already out of breath, both trying to hide their exhaustion, but both failing at the same time. Namarra’s neck wound looked nasty, the brown and dark red blood had crusted around the wound, the scabs looking more like dried bug exoskeletons than any healthy blood clot. Red streaks were smeared all the way down past her collarbone, and—given the stain—some blood had even soaked into her bikini top. There was a nice bruise around her left eye and on her right cheekbone, but neither of them swelled up enough to hinder her sight. Her bottom lip was a bit puffy from a cut there, but still nothing looked serious. Even the cut at her hairline on her forehead looked to be shallow.

“You look—“

“—like shit,” Namarra finished for her, bringing up a very bruised right hand and wrist to point at the redhead. “Damn, what paper shredder did you fall into?”

Eclipse laughed. “Probably the same one that spit you out. Now, what foot or leg hurts the most?” Namarra pointed down at her right foot where Eclipse poked her heel. “Okay, my right one isn’t doing too well either, so we’ll have to make sure my left foot is stepping when your right foot does and vise versa. We’ll be able to hold each other’s weight that way.”

“Seems like too much work.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Damn.”

“My sentiments exactly. Now, let’s get this over with.” Weaving an arm behind each other’s backs, Eclipse put her right hand just under Namarra’s right armpit and the Natural did much the same, slipping her left hand just under the redhead’s left armpit. For the most part, they were the same height, which made walking a bit easier, but as soon as they put their arms around each other, they tensed. 

“This is awkward,” Eclipse admitted first, trying not to turn her head to talk to Namarra directly.

“And again, we agree on something, so let’s just not think about it and get some food.”

Eclipse nodded and they took some slow first steps. Everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly and when their legs got to moving more, the muscles loosened. Maybe it wasn’t going to be too bad after all.

“I guess we _are_ in an agreeing mood this morning,” Eclipse said.

“Huh?”

“You _do_ smell like a jock and sock bag.”

Namarra frowned; Eclipse could hear it in her voice. “If I wouldn’t go down with you, I’d so trip you right now.”

“Hm, _definitely_ an agreeable morning.”

They made it to the waterfall by noon and, luckily, they found the pool at the bottom without having to jump down the falls. In their condition, they wouldn’t make it out again. “How about you fish and I’ll build the fire.”

“Why do I have to fish?” Namarra complained, leaning up against a tree for support.

“Because you can actually grip a fishing pole,” Eclipse replied, holding up one bandaged hand and swollen knuckles on the other. Namarra held up her own hands for inspection and cursed when she knew she lost the fight.

“I can grip, but barely pull one in.” She pointed to her wrist.

“You’ll figure it out,” the redhead replied and smiled before heading back into the woods to find some kindling and logs.

Their survival skills were better than they had thought. Even though the wood was mostly wet, Eclipse actually felt good enough to make a few trips to find dry kindling. For a while there—after attempting to grasp her knife and make some sparks by striking it against a stone—she had gotten desperate enough to call the Stealth and order it to shoot at the wood, but a fire sparked to life before she could do anything drastic. Sure, the attack probably would have blown away her and put a nice puncture hole in the Earth, but she had wanted nothing more than to cause more destruction. So, two socks—she had thought they would make better kindling than bandages—and three wood trips later, she had a good fire roaring. Namarra did well fishing and with four fish, albeit small ones, now on sticks near a fire, the two could clean up a bit.

There was a small side pool that some rushing water and fallen rocks had managed to block off from the strong current near the waterfall. It was hardly the hot springs, but it was relatively warm and they could at least clean off all the dirt and grime. That was more important than anything. Neither was shy, so it wasn’t the matter of bathing in the same pool, more like both being vulnerable in front of the person who had tried to kill her not a day ago.

They both side glanced at each other and held the awkward stare for a while. Eventually, Eclipse sighed and reached behind to her lower back, just behind the waistline of her shorts. The knife was sharp—so she had two nice gashes to add to her repertoire—and the dried blood plastered the flathead to the small of her back. She had started keeping the knife there since she had come to Orb. Ironic really since that was the one place she was safe. She had yet to find a proper sheath, but her body had calloused well.

Pulling out the flathead, she grabbed the hole at the top with her thumb and index finger, swinging the blade back and forth. “There, last one, I promise.”

“I knew you were holding out on me. Impressive, especially since you kept your Berserker from using the weapon.” Moving her hand, she reached into much the same spot and produced a similar blade. Hers, however, was black with a crimson tint, much like her hair. Spinning it once, she threw it into the ground at Eclipse’s feet. “I take it we’re both satisfied?”

Eclipse shrugged and they both stripped down, getting into the water with more than a few curses as the water leaked into their cuts. The pain subsided soon, becoming nothing more than a dull ache slowly slipping away thanks to the soothing water.

“You mind if I ask you a question?” Eclipse wondered and Namarra looked up from scrubbing some dirt from her shoulder, but never argued. “Why exactly did the guys go insane like that?”

“They’re not insane,” the Natural corrected, sounding a bit annoyed with the accusation. “Their medication just,” she paused, “changed.”

“Medication?”

“They’re Extendeds. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.”

Eclipse nodded, remembering what FS and Stray had told her a long time ago back at Mendel. The drugs would eat away at their minds. Suddenly, it all made sense. “Do you know why there was a sudden change?”

She shrugged. “After one of my sessions, Azrael made some kind of brilliant exclamation and the guys were being put into pod machines instead of just given pills. The first time wasn’t so bad, but after a couple of weeks they didn’t even recognize me. Those pods were a new but untested model, apparently, and yet they can do all that? They can make them do…” She trailed off and Eclipse let her go silent, watching her reach around to trace the bruises on her back. She had already said more than the redhead had ever anticipated. “I’m not like them, if you were wondering. Well, not completely.”

“I wasn’t gonna ask.”

“I know, but I guess you deserve to understand. I know I told you before I was on drugs, but that’s really only for the tests they run on me. When I was training I was on some for about a year, or so, and I was put into a similar machine, but I’ve never had such…” she paused searching for the right word. “Side effects.”

Eclipse thought about that for a second, splashing her face with water. She had also been given medication for about a year during her training on Januarias 4. She should have expected their lives to have been so similar, but it still surprised her a little. “Tests because you’re a Berserker, right?”

“I’m guessing you’ve had similar treatment?”

She nodded. “Do you know why we’re so special?”

“Aside from our very powerful alter egos?” Namarra shrugged. “I’m thinking we know about the same amount of information.”

“Not much then, huh?” Eclipse sighed. “When this is all over, we’ll find out more, agreed?”

They locked stared and eventually nodded. “Finally, allies then?”

“Only seems appropriate.”

They fell silent after that, finishing their bath in a comfortable quiet that both appreciated. Only when they were both stepping out of the water to pull their fish away from the fire did Eclipse speak again. “Can I ask you another question?”

“Only if I can return the honor.”

Eclipse shrugged, wringing out her short hair as best she could while she stared at the flames. “Fine.” Namarra flicked her hand, telling her to go on with it. “Why did you freak out when Lust mentioned,” she paused, stopping herself before she said the word, “your brother’s name?”

The Natural froze, her hands in the middle of twisting the water out of her own locks. She took deep breaths, quick ones at first, but soon they slowed as she gained some control. “I don’t know; it’s really as simple as that. I just hear his name and I can’t concentrate—I can barely function, and I just lose all sense of control.” Her voice rose towards the end of the statement, her hands twisting her hair into tighter knots than the strands could probably handle.

Eclipse’s muscles tensed as she watched her, not sure if the subject alone was enough to trigger the fit. Remembering what had happened last time, she didn’t think she was well enough to fend off the attack. Actually, the tensing was too painful, so she relaxed when Namarra had started to do the same. “You don’t have to explain any more,” Eclipse replied.

Her eyes turned upwards towards her, shifting slowly down again once they made contact. “Thanks.”

The redhead also wanted to ask about the song she had sung the night before, but she held back, not sure of it was linked to Namarra’s brother or not. Remembering the lyrics, it probably was and she really didn’t want Namarra to freak out around a small communal bath of all things. “Now, you owe me two questions,” Eclipse said. “Ask away.”

The Natural cocked an eyebrow and started wiping off the water on her arms so she could dry off quicker next to the flames. “Alright, why did you go to Orb?”

“Because that’s where I used to live and, after all the tests they were doing on me, I was basically kicked out of the ZAFT military.”

“So, you returned home?”

Eclipse shrugged. “In a manner of speaking.”

“You the prodigal daughter?”

“I don’t like to consider myself that.”

“I can see why. Parents avid supporters of total pacifism and you a ZAFT pilot—oh, and a Berserker to boot.”

“You seem to know a lot about me,” Eclipse said, a bit agitated by the interrogation. Yes, she walked into it, but at least she had backed off when she had noticed Namarra’s discomfort. Maybe she was just growing soft over the months. 

“You’re not famous, but you’re pretty damn close.”

“And I know nothing about you.”

“Isn’t that how this stuff always tends to work out?”

Eclipse sighed and turned her back to the fire. “If we’re gonna start working together, I have to know more about you.”

“Sounds fair.” Namarra shrugged. “Help me find information about my brothers and then I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

 _Great, more time sitting around with nothing answered,_ the redhead thought, almost ready to tell her she didn’t want to do anything until she knew the truth. But what good would that do? Having Namarra her enemy again wasn’t a good idea. “Fine.”

Namarra smiled and turned around like her counterpart. About a minute passed as they both dried off, now feeling the warmth of the fire instead of the cool winds. It was warm out, but air drying was never a comfortable experience. 

“Do you think they can really help me?” Namarra asked, breaking the silence and handing Eclipse two of the fish.

“You mean Orb, right?” The Natural nodded as she they both sat down. “I think they can do something. Are you sure you don’t have any more information?”

Namarra grabbed the other two fish and squeezed one a couple of times to see how hot it was. “I _do_ have more information—ouch!” She brought her fingers to her lips and narrowed her eyes at the cooked seafood. “Just nothing I can share right now.”

“What do you mean ‘can’t share?’” Eclipse did much the same thing, sticking her tender finger onto her tongue.

“Or, more like, it wouldn’t be of any use right now. I need a computer, some medical books, and another hacker plus yourself. We need to get into the Blue Cosmos database.”

“I figured it’d come to that,” Eclipse admitted, waving the fish around and hoping that would cool them off faster. She was hungry.

“You agreed.”

“I know.”

Namarra was about to say something else when she caught onto what Eclipse was doing and started laughing softly. “Y’know, with your luck those are gonna go flying and I _refuse_ to get more for you.”

“Meh, a risk worth taking.” The waving actually worked and even Namarra started trying it when her stomach reminded her of her own hunger. One of her fish did fall off, but the Natural just picked it up off the ground and ate it anyway. Food was food. 

In between chews, the CA earpiece shifted and the volume must have been adjusted because suddenly the Stealth’s message alarm was blaring. It could have been damaged during the fight or after everything that was going on, but, either way, it had adjusted without her knowledge. The food fell out of Eclipse’s mouth when it opened in a painful scream. The stick and last fish dropped from her hands and her finger went immediately to her ear, turning down the annoying alarm and reminding her to replace it with something a bit more musical and less deafening. 

“What’s wrong?” Namarra asked, her mouth propped opened for the next bit of food.

“Messages from my suit. A _lot_ of messages.”

“Messages? How do you know?”

“It’s a long story. Short version, my brother built me a communication device.” She held up an index finger and turned her head down at to the side. “Coffee Addict, read them to me starting with the first one received.”

“Order acknowledged. First message sent at 1000 hours June 13th by a Lathan Rymyr.” Eclipse looked up and judged the time. It was probably 26 hours past when the message was received. She cursed silently. “It reads: Sis, I need you to come back. Orb’s been given an ultimatum by the Atlantic Federation. It’s not good. What the _hell_ are you doing?”

Eclipse cursed louder and looked up to meet Namarra’s curious stare. She waited until she took a bite before she shared the news. “The Atlantic Federation gave Orb an ultimatum. Do you know anything about this?” The Natural shrugged and the Stealth started reading the next message.

“Message two sent at 1500 hours on June 13th by a Cagalli Yula Athha. It reads: Lexi, Orb might end up a battlefield! Where are you?” 

Eclipse cringed after the message, just imagining her cousin screaming and freaking out on the other end of the line. _Shit._

“Message three sent at 1615 hours on June 13th by a Lathan Rymyr. It reads: Lexi, Cags could really use her closest cousin at the moment. Hell, we could all use some of your bright personality so _where are you_?” She cringed again when the volume went up on the last three words. Her suit either needed more of an attitude adjustment than she had figured or Lathan was just that pissed. Namarra snorted on the other side of the fire, probably seeing the look, but Eclipse wasn’t as amused. The next message was from Cagalli and then two more from Lathan. He didn’t give much detail about what was going on, but hearing Cagalli’s freak outs—even in an email—was enough to make her worry.

“Shit, shit, shit!”

“Do you know any more details?” Namarra asked, now onto checking her injuries. Her elbow seemed to be feeling worse right then—no doubt having cramped up over the night—but her neck wound looked to be the most severe. The only problem was neither of them had proper first aid equipment on hand. Everything was back in their machines. 

Eclipse shook her head. “No, but we should probably get back to our mobile suits. We’ll know more when we turn on the news reports.”

“Hah, when you move, I’ll move,” she scoffed.

“Message seven,” Coffee Addict continued, “sent at 1850 hours on June 13th, origin unknown. It reads: Eclipse, it’s Athrun. I’m on Earth. Can we talk?”

That one surprised her a bit and Namarra must have noticed the look because her eyes narrowed in response. “Not good?”

“No, just surprised,” Eclipse said, shaking her head and waiting for the last message. At least she hoped it was the last one. How the hell did she miss so many?

“Message eight sent at 0100 hours on June 14th, origin unknown. It reads: Eclipse, it’s Yzak. You’re not listed as a soldier anymore. What the _hell_ is going on? Please tell me this is the Stealth and you’re okay.”

Another surprising email and even more shocking because both him and Athrun sent her a message within seven hours of each other. If only they knew.

“Last message sent at 0900 hours June 14th from a Lathan Rymyr. It reads: Damn it, Lexi! Twenty-four hours until we have to reply and you’re still MIA! You’d better be dead, that’s all I gotta say.”

Eclipse sighed. “Coffee Addict, time and date?”

“1330 hours on June 14th.”

“Alright, Addict, begin start up preparations. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Roger that.” And the connection cut off. Eclipse cursed and then got to her feet. Well, tried. Her sprained ankle buckled and when she put down a hand to stop herself from falling completely, the many wounds across her knuckles screamed for attention.

“Shit.”

“See, that’s why I’ll start moving when you do. So far, no good.”

“Namarra, Orb’s in some deep shit and we _have_ to get back to our suits. Where’s yours?”

“Middle of the island.” She nudged her head backwards and to the right. “On good legs and feet, I’m thinking a half hour walk.”

Eclipse rubbed her forehead, knowing neither of them had good legs _or_ feet. “Addict, can you come to my position?”

“Negative. Autopilot system offline.”

“It’s what?” Eclipse half shouted, now angry her brother had wanted to do that tune up to her suit in the first place. Or was she the one to recommend it? She didn’t even know anymore. Either way, they were forced to walk the distance after all. Coffee Addict repeated its response after Eclipse questioned it, but the redhead ignored the whole thing, saying a quick thank you halfway through. She really needed to talk to Lathan now, even if it was to get the outside data to fix her machine’s operating system. So there were a bunch of things to talk to him about, but she was definitely going to start with Orb’s agenda. She was getting the gist of the situation, but without a good briefing she couldn’t just fly in. With the country in such a delicate position, she would probably get shot down before welcomed. 

And she had Namarra with her.

“Shit.”

“You need a new swear word.”

“Thanks for the commentary. Get changed.”

* * *

They had expected it to take a while to get back to their mobile suits, the girls going their separate ways when they had reached the “middle point” between the two machines. The Stealth was another kilometer or so away, but without Namarra’s stabilizing shoulder it was going to be one hell of a walk. The day before, every tree and branch was a welcomed source of cover, but now, however, they were nothing more than annoying and hazardous obstacles. Yes, they had their moments where they were good at providing a perch for Eclipse’s exhausted body, but those moments were rare. “Addict, how far am I from your position?” she asked, putting a hand against a tree trunk as she pulled herself up a hill. She probably could have looked up to see if she could see the machine, but she was forced to pay too much attention to where she was putting her hands and feet.

“Approximately 50 meters. Given your speed, I would say another hour or two until you are here.”

“Cute,” Eclipse muttered, taking a couple more painful minutes to reach the top of the hill and not appreciating the Stealth’s witty comments. Putting all of her weight on her good, left ankle, she looked around for her suit. A giant, black mobile suit in broad daylight shouldn’t be too hard to find. In theory anyway. Knowing the machine’s rebellious streak, it probably activated the Colloid. Seeing her beloved killing machine sitting near the base of the hill, however, Eclipse smiled lightly and carefully began her trek down. Somehow managing to get to the machine without tumbling headfirst to the ground, the redhead stuck her foot in the zipcord and rode it to the cockpit. Once her body sank into the clean material, Eclipse couldn’t help shivering. She still felt filthy even after the bath. Standing up, she walked back onto the cockpit door and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Some more dried blood flaked off and Eclipse sighed. Poking the top half of her body back inside, she reached down to one of the storage compartments and pulled out a long, black blanket. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she grabbed the keyboard and tried to catch Lathan in his office back in Orb. The other chat line she left open for Namarra. The two of them had decided to leave a frequency open so they could connect their suits.

Namarra jumped onto the line almost immediately. “Eclipse, is this you?”

“I read ya, Namarra. Do you know anything yet?” Flipping a few switches, she managed to bring the Natural’s face up on the screen. The redhead sat down after that, knowing the whole experience was going to be so much easier with her sitting in the seat. Besides, the blanket was going to make things feel a little better.

“There’s nothing for me, but I now remember the base pretty busy with preparations when I left. Ammo loading, mobile suit docking—the works really.”

“And you never put two and two together?”

Namarra narrowed her eyes, Eclipse catching a glimpse of a dark green and black pilot suit as she stuffed it into a side cubby. “Are you kidding me? The world’s in a fuckin’ war and you’re asking me why I didn’t think twice about some missiles being pushed around at the base?”

“Damn it, Namarra, it was a simple question.”

“No, it was an accusation and you—”

“Lexi, thank Helmaya, where _are_ you? And you look like _shit_!” Lathan interrupted, his face appearing on the other screen. Namarra shared a few more frustrated curses, but soon grew silent as Lathan started his end of the bitch fight. “Y’know what? It doesn’t matter. Can you get back to Orb?” 

“How much time until we have to give them a final decision?”

“About 18 hours. If you come back now, I might be able to pull a few strings and get you back in here to stock up on ammo.”

Eclipse glanced over at Namarra’s screen, the Natural now pulling her long hair back into a bun. They locked stares for a moment—Namarra hearing what was going on—but she never said anything; simply shrugged.

“Lexi?”

“How many strings can you pull to get an EA pilot in with me?”

“What?”

“Plus her mobile suit?”

“Sis, you’re insane!”

“We can say she’s an Atlantic Federation liaison.”

“And is she?” It took Eclipse a moment, but finally she shook her head. Namarra made some smartass remark, but the redhead didn’t pay her any attention. With a mouth like that, putting the Natural in a diplomatic situation would be terrifying. Thousands of lives were on the line and with no real power in the Federation—well, everyone would be pissed. “Damn it, Lexi, this isn’t a joke. With all this shit going on, you want to be funny?”

“She’s an ally of ours and—I’m assuming—we both need some maintenance before this battle starts. You _know_ we can be of some help.”

“Wait,” he held up a hand to the screen, “you think this’ll end in a battle?”

“Lathan,” Eclipse said, his name alone showing how naïve he was being. “Orb won’t back down and I doubt the EA will let them.”

“They’re probably hoping for the fight,” Namarra chimed in. “It looks like the guys are on one of those ships outside the border.”

“Is that your friend talking?”

“Yes, she’s an ally,” Eclipse answered, running some scenarios through her head. If Namarra’s comrades were on a fleet and they were as much of a threat as Eclipse figured, the Federation was definitely looking for a fight. “Lathan, we need in.”

“No, just you.”

“It _has_ to be both. We need medical attention as well as ammunition.”

“No.”

She was going to shout back, but stopped herself. This wasn’t her brother’s fault and he probably had fewer contacts in Orb than she did. No matter how close their blood was to the government, they still had records. Sure, Eclipse could probably call up the same Orb smugglers who got her and the Zala team into the country before, but somehow that seemed like a really bad move considering the circumstances. Besides, Lathan had every right to be suspicious and want to protect his home country. She wasn’t about to abuse their relationship and just bring Namarra back no matter what.

"Fine, we wait for the battle to start and we join in then.”

“What?”

“We need more time to prepare and I have a feeling when we’re ready, so will the EA.” She turned to Namarra then and they locked stares again. She didn’t want to give away her name until the Natural was ready to. “Give Lathan your mobile suit code and he’ll make sure Orb knows you’re an ally. You _can_ do that much, right?” she asked, turning to her brother at the end. He looked a little offended, but nodded nonetheless.

Namarra paused, almost as if she was thinking the whole thing over again. Eclipse hoped that was why she was hesitating because the redhead didn’t want to follow her skeptical side and believe Namarra was going to lie about her suit and give a false code so one of her comrades could sneak behind the Orb lines and slaughter everyone. 

Damn, this was getting complicated.

“Namarra.” There, she said her name that time and she could see Lathan scribbling on a pad of paper. “I’m putting a _lot_ of trust in you right now. You wanted this.” She didn’t agree, but she didn’t disagree either. They were both making one hell of a leap of faith, but with a battle looming, a risk was the only thing to take.

“My suit’s GAT-X713 DECAY, code number 718417.” She looked at Eclipse then, her eyes still showing she was wary of the redhead, but there was still some yearning for something. Trust?

Eclipse didn’t know what was going to happen after the battle, but she knew she could at least keep her safe during it. They both still had separate missions—Namarra to save her teammates and Eclipse to protect Orb—but they could at least do it without worrying about friendly fire.

“Got it, Lexi. I’ll do the best I can and I wish I could see you before the battle starts, but good luck. Don’t die.”

“Cliché as ever.” She gave a small smile, but it faded as soon as she remembered the second thing she was going to bring up. “Oh, I do have another favor to ask.” Lathan sighed, his eyes slowly blinking, as if his lids were covering up the eye roll. “I need the data for autopilot on the Stealth. It’s offline apparently and I can’t fix it without the proper information.”

“Alright.” He looked off to his right, Eclipse hearing the familiar sound of him typing on the keyboard. After a few more mouse clicks, he hit one key loudly. “Transferring.”

“Thanks, bro. Send Cagalli my best.” He did a mock salute and was gone. Eclipse sighed and leaned back in her seat, cringing when the cuts stung.

“I’m surprised he didn’t say anything about those bruises.”

“My brother and I seem to have some kind of unofficial pact where we don’t pry into each other’s lives unless the person initiates the conversation.”

“Must be nice.”

“With this job, it tends to be helpful.”

“No, I mean to have a brother. Older, right?”

Eclipse nodded and she watched Namarra’s eyes go down and to the side, a weak smile crooking up her lips. “I don’t believe in pitying a person for losing someone close, but I _do_ know what it’s like to watch someone you love get killed. If you ever need to vent—”

“I won’t.”

“—you know how to reach me,” Eclipse continued, ignoring how fast her partner went from feeling pathetic to being defensive. Sighing, she pulled up the Stealth’s operating system and started making the adjustments. Some kind of auto movement might be nice in the coming battle, especially with her being so injured. 

She did as much as she could and then started tending to her wounds, waiting for the Stealth to confirm and sync what she had just done before making some more adjustments. Leaning down, she reached into one of the lower compartments and pulled out her first aid kit. She was about halfway through wrapping her sprained ankle when Namarra cursed loudly. The redhead looked up at the screen and she cursed again.

“I just ran out of hydrogen peroxide.”

“Geez, your wounds weren’t _that_ bad were they? To use a whole bottle?”

The Natural bit the side of a piece of tape and tore it in half. She wrapped it twice around her left bicep to make sure the bandage stayed secure. “I forgot to refill it, alright? I went out on a mission last week and poured half the bottle down some poor schmuck’s throat.”

Eclipse cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t argue. Holding her own bottle up in front of the screen, she shook it a couple of times to measure the amount then propped her chin up on her free hand. “I have about half left.”

“Well, good for you,” she grumbled and bit off another bit of tape.

Eclipse shook the bottle again. “How much you need?”

“Why, you done?”

“No, but I only use as much as I need to use.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Yes or no, Namarra?” The Natural sighed, but soon ended up throwing a bloody rag at the screen. That was as close to a yes as Eclipse was going to get. “I’m bringing my suit over.”

“Fine.”

Eclipse was more than excited to see Namarra’s machine. She may not get a chance to hear the full mobile suit ramble like she had for the Stealth, but any kind of visual would be greatly appreciated. And to see how advanced the Earth Forces had become with their technology was a tempting notion as well. 

The walk didn’t take too long and staring at her screens, the redhead found herself impressed by the machine kneeling down next to a rock face. Over its shoulders was a black cape, but it didn’t move with the wind, making Eclipse think it was armor instead of thin material. Since it was attached to the shoulders and neck, it had to be for some kind of defense or even for stealth purposes like the Mirage Colloid was for her suit. The head and face was humanoid like the prototypes with red eyes, but the left side of the face was interesting. It might have had something to do with her alter ego, but the left half of the face was stripped of metal, the wiring exposed and looking like some kind of giant burn scar. Eclipse knew Namarra was more careful than to leave any part of her suit vulnerable—so the spot might have been covered by some kind of clear material—but the look gave the redhead an eerie feeling. The rest of the body was a combination of black, brown, and green, blending in with the background, but with the black cape-like armor covering most of its body it looked much like the Stealth. There was no weaponry in sight so Eclipse couldn’t have been sure how armed the suit was—or gauge its power—but, knowing the Natural, there was something ready to do overkill damage on some puny tank hidden nearby.

Eclipse dropped the cockpit right in front of Namarra’s open hatch, the two doors nearly touching. There was a gap of about one meter between them, probably symbolizing more than the girls wanted to admit. Walking out onto the hatch, the redhead tossed the bottle of disinfectant at the sitting Natural. “Finish it if you want. I think I’ll be fine.” Namarra muttered a quiet thanks and Eclipse sat back down in her machine. She was glad her comrade seemed to have a competent suit. It wasn’t as if she had any doubts, but for a while there she was actually thinking Namarra had one of those mass-produced Strike Daggers. That would have been ridiculous. 

After watching the Natural for a time, she brought up the Stealth’s operating system, making a couple of adjustments to the controls. With as many injuries as she had—and most of them on her hands—she had to lower the resistance just a bit. Her muscles wouldn’t be able to handle her original settings, but with looser controls, she hoped her stomach would be able to handle the quicker movements and that she wouldn’t be turning 180 degrees instead of 90.

Somehow, she didn’t think she could afford such a mistake in the coming fight.

* * *

Eclipse stared hard at the screens, every so often looking up and over at Namarra sitting in her machine. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, wishing she hadn’t put on her pilot suit. With the time limit quickly approaching, she couldn’t just be sitting around in a bikini top, but Orb’s fine humidity was more sticky than comfortable. They had both tolerated it for the past half hour when Lathan sent Eclipse a message about how Orb was still going to stress their neutrality. That was to be expected and now the Atlantic Federation fleet was on the move. The Earth Forces weren’t about to back off, especially not when Orb had a mass driver that could send them into space. 

“Damn it, they should just get off their asses and build one themselves,” Eclipse grumbled. “Namarra, any news from your end?”

The Natural shook her head. “I’m still getting the same message: Meet at these coordinates for further instructions. It’s getting annoying.”

“Have they moved yet?” Eclipse asked, meaning her comrades.

“No, they’re still in the hangar.”

“What ship?”

“One closest to the flag ship.” They both cursed after that bit of information. If it wasn’t going to be hard enough to convince them, they had to go through an entire fleet.

“So, how important are these three?”

“Lexi.”

“I was just wondering—wait. Did you?”

“You know my name. It’s only fair.” Namarra smiled when Eclipse sighed. “Besides, I know it annoys you. Every time your brother mentioned it your right eyelid twitched. Yup,” she continued, pointing to that side of her face, “just like that. So, I’m using it from now on. Just decided.”

Decay’s sensors went off first and then the Stealth’s, the Atlantic Federation probably nice enough to give their AWOL pilots a heads up before they started their missile assault on a neutral country. Both pilots went for their helmets, Eclipse taking one extra second to enjoy the light wind blowing across her sweaty forehead. This humidity was definitely a bitch and even though the climate control was still functional inside the Stealth, the redhead couldn’t help but wish for a place with a couple more days below 25 degrees Celsius.

“We’re about 20 minutes out. I’m assuming your suit can fly?”

“Brilliant deduction, dumbass.”

Eclipse brushed off the comment and closed the hatch. Now, she regretted her offer to be a verbal punching bag. “Then keep up with me and we won’t have any problems, capiche?”

“Roger that.” They took off then, the Stealth leading the way back to Onogoro Island. Namarra’s suit kept up fairly well—having boosters on the back, both shoulders, and even the thighs for extra momentum and stability—only trailing behind when Eclipse set the HiMat wings at maximum thrust. Seventy-five percent output seemed to work well for the Natural so she kept the steady pace and hoped it wasn’t putting too much of a strain on the Decay. The cape that had been covering the Decay when the redhead first saw the suit had folded over the cockpit, holes conveniently placed in the shoulders and the back so the Decay could fly around without damaging the defense mechanism. The boosters on the shoulders and legs gave more bulk to the suit, however, almost making it look un-proportioned, but it never seemed off balance. The Decay’s agility seemed at par with the Stealth, actually, and seeing as Namarra had similar missions as Eclipse, it only seemed appropriate. Eclipse was going to ask about more specific schematics, but knew Namarra had other things on her mind.

Chaos was always a good word to describe a battlefield, but Eclipse never truly appreciated the term until she saw the pure power of it, rendering her home country to a junk heap after only 10 minutes or so of fighting. The Atlantic Federation had the upper hand even if it was only because of their numbers. Orb was putting up a good fight, matching shot for shot, but when one Orb machine was destroyed, only one took its place. For the Earth Forces, two took its spot.

“Damn, this is bad.”

“For who?” Namarra countered and stopped next to the Stealth. They hovered there for a moment, Eclipse trying to access the whole situation and the Natural trying to contact her comrades. The redhead cursed again and brought up her list of weaponry. The Stealth was no where near ready for this.

“Fuck!”

“Lexi, I found ‘em. I’m gonna try talking to them.”

“Need help?”

“No, I can’t have someone—let along another pilot and mobile suit—pissin’ them off. I’ll let you know if I need back up.” Namarra ended the transmission after that and Eclipse sighed. Like she was going to ask for help. Punching a sequence on the keyboard, she brought up two more video screens besides her main camera. One was on the Earth Forces landing on the Izanagi shore—the Orb forces seemed to have that under control—and the other one was on Namarra’s Decay. For a second she watched the mobile suit head to the Earth Forces fleet and she cursed. There was the eerie feeling it was _not_ going to turn out well.

An alarm flared on the main screen. “Air drop above Onogoro shore,” the Stealth announced and Eclipse bit her bottom lip. Things were definitely going to get interesting with all the injuries she had, but she couldn’t just leave her birth home to burn, no matter how many bad memories she had there.

“Addict, we’re going to intercept.”

“Roger that,” her suit replied and Eclipse pulled her machine over towards the island and the Orb tanks about to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Eclipse landed just after half a dozen Strike Daggers had already taken out a fair share of Orb tanks. On the way down, however, the redhead couldn’t miss the opportunity to destroy a preoccupied enemy. Unsheathing the blade in her left foot, the Stealth sliced across a standing Strike Dagger and plunged the sword into its side. The blade sunk into the cockpit and was pulled downwards as Eclipse fell to the Earth, most likely making a messy display of the pilot once sitting behind the controls. The attack didn’t slice far, however, the blade not sharp enough to tear through the improved armor on the Strike Daggers. It was a fatal attack nonetheless and Eclipse pulled the Stealth’s leg backwards, dislodging the blade and focusing on the next kill long before the Dagger fell to the ground motionless.

Another enemy came up behind her. Placing the Stealth’s foot firmly on the ground—and sheathing the blade—she dropped the sword in her right wrist and sliced the head from its shoulders, the metal thankfully not as thick around the neck. The pilot was blinded and definitely not happy since his next couple of attacks were nothing more than pissed off swings from a machine that had yet to gain any kind of visuals. The Stealth dodged each slice easily and only when the Strike Dagger started falling off balance did Eclipse take her chance to cut it from the game entirely. Kicking the suit in the side, she sent it a safe distance away before pulling out her only beam rifle and shooting once into its battery pack. It exploded as expected and Eclipse brought her buckler up to protect the cockpit from debris. Putting her rifle back at her hip, she turned and looked for the next opponent.

As usual, her enemies found her. There were four of them—one on each side of her like some deadly Compass Rose—beam sabers out and ready to run her through. How fun. She turned and faced the one in front of the burning Strike Dagger. She had to try and take them out one at a time, but with reinforced armor and so few beam weapons, it was going to be tough unless she had a little help. Some shells riddled the Dagger’s armor, the Orb tanks coming to support her. More Orb forces distracted the machine to her left so she spun to the right and reached out to grab the Dagger’s head. The sword under her left wrist flipped up at the same time, the blade cutting into the armor above the cockpit and slowly making its way to its head. With her right blade, she cut the beam saber from its startled hand. Spinning, her left hand clamped down on the head and she shoved the machine at the charging Strike Dagger behind her. The machine panicked when he saw his comrade flying at him and brought the beam saber up to block instead of his shield. Stabbing through the cockpit, he nicked the battery and the two machines exploded. 

A sweat drop dripped from Eclipse’s nose and into the cushion of her helmet after that series of attacks. Her hands burned with pain and the bandage on her exposed muscle had nearly been rubbed off under her suit, her grip almost too much for the tape to withstand. She coughed once and felt the air burn through her lungs as she breathed. The Berserker bitch fest had definitely come at the wrong time.

The Orb tanks keeping the two machines occupied behind her exploded, making her tired mind remember the other Strike Daggers. Spinning back to them, she emptied her CIWS bullets in their general direction. If they were going to stick with their original attack plan, they were going to be charging with their beam sabers out in front. The bullets did little to slow their charge, but it was enough to knock out one camera and scare the other pilot as three bullets shorted the saber in his hand. He dropped the weapon immediately and drew the beam rifle from his side. The one with the broken camera swung widely, but still on target. Eclipse had to bring the Stealth’s right arm up to block and the beam went right through the sword sticking out of her wrist. The blade dropped to the ground and Eclipse ducked under the next swing. The mobile suit with the beam rifle shot at the same time, his attack going over the crouched Stealth.

Eclipse lunged forward and stabbed upwards with her left hand, driving the blade into the arm of the machine with the rifle. Sure the blade would stick, she pulled the suit forward over her machine. The other Strike Dagger—its cameras still out—swung blindly again, chopping downward at Eclipse’s makeshift shield and slicing the suit in half from the waist down. Smirking, Eclipse pushed the remaining half onto the blinded Dagger and brought out her own beam rifle, silencing them with a shot each.

 _This would be so much more fun,_ she thought, prying her right fingers from the controls one at a time, _if I wasn’t half dead_. She had a little time to catch her breath as the other Strike Daggers were taken care of by the Orb forces.

“Damn, that was impressive, pilot! Thanks for the help,” remarked one Orb soldier over the radio. Eclipse just nodded even though they couldn’t see her. Her injuries were coming back full force by then and she couldn’t breathe let alone form any kind of verbal response. She hugged her hand to her chest and just concentrated on her breath as she watched the screens. Izanagi Island was being overrun and even though the three M1 Astray girls were putting up a good fight, they still had limited battle experience, especially in an all-out swarm battle like this was. Namarra was holding her own, which was good. She had met her comrades—or what she concluded to be the other three guys she had been travelling with in mobile suits—in the air and was flying around like some mosquito avoiding a fly swatter. One suit was teal with two cannons mounted on its shoulders and standing on what looked like an Earth Forces version of a Guul. But it was a black with some red attachments and looked way too bulky to merely be for transportation. The last suit was the largest of them all with a white body and three large green shields on its back and sides. At least they looked like shields. Since he was flying on his own, they were most likely boosters as well.

Eclipse couldn’t hear much of the conversation, but it didn’t look as if the Earth Forces’ new mobile suits wanted to hurt her fellow Berserker, just annoy or even scare her. That meant Eclipse had a little more time to clean up things on Orb soil, but she didn’t know how long she would be able to hold up. One more burning cough and breath meant all of the flying around and fighting wasn’t doing well for her internal bruises.

“More units approaching from above,” the Stealth announced, drawing the redhead back to her suit’s grim predicament. Cursing, she let go of her hand and gripped her fingers one-by-one back on the controls. 

Grabbing its rifle, the Stealth took aim and fired at two descending Strike Daggers. One enemy machine opened fire at the Stealth, but she avoided the shots easily and counterattacked. One shot went through a Strike Dagger’s thigh and nicked the battery given the angle. The explosion caught a parachute of a nearby mobile suit and sent the machine falling hard onto the sand. Eclipse dodged a couple more shots from the other suits before aiming and shooting at that one through the cockpit before it could recuperate.

Turning away from the shore, she saw about a dozen more mobile suits about to land. Her grip twitched on the controls as she took a strained breath. Another sweat drop fell down her forehead and into her eyes. Reflexes took over at that point and she flicked her head to the side—to send the drop away—just in time to hear Namarra’s conversation turn sour.

“Orga, listen to me—”

“Shut up, girl. Shani, why don’t you do the honors? We’ll get rid of the—”

“Orga! Why does he—”

“Shut up, Clotho!”

Eclipse glanced up at the screen and cursed. If things were about to get serious, she had to get over there and fast knowing how injured Namarra was. It was a good plan until she remembered how vulnerable the Orb forces would be if she took off. Even in her condition, she was better than no one. One Strike Dagger hit the ground and then lunged at the Stealth. Eclipse fired a shot through its left shoulder and dodged its panicked attack as it fell to the ground. A shot through the top of the cockpit silenced him.

The next couple of seconds were interesting. Instinctively, she had turned to stab the enemy coming at her back, but when she spun, the machine already had its head and upper left arm blown off. It staggered a couple of steps and then fell backwards, the two damaged areas sparking and smoldering from the attack. The Stealth traced the shots to a white and blue mobile suit hovering above her and off to the right. It looked a lot like the prototypes, but just shinier and taller according to the limited schematics the Stealth provided. Based on the HiMat wings and the priggish aura emitting from the cockpit, she figured it was Kira in the Freedom Gundam. She scowled but still kept things civil when she brought up a communication transmission. 

“I suppose you’re waiting for a thank you.”

“Oh, it’s you,” the pilot replied, nothing in his tone indicating he was angry about seeing her, but his words showing he was sad about it. He really needed to stop pitying her.

She narrowed her eyes, letting him know she didn’t appreciate his reaction. “Can I trust you not to fuck up here?”

He hesitated a moment before answering, most likely startled by her choice of words. “I will defend this country with my life, if that’s what you mean.”

 _How noble,_ she thought, but bit her tongue. She could quarrel with him later. “Normally, I pray for your death, but I need you alive right now. Don’t let Orb burn.”

“Roger that.” He saluted on the other end of the communication and Eclipse returned a nod before cutting it off. She didn’t trust the guy personally—hell, she didn’t even like him—but she knew he was powerful and even though he seemed to be playing the tragic hero by only maiming the enemy mobile suits, his aim wasn’t half bad. Taking a moment, she watched him fly off—followed by the recovered Strike—before pressing a couple buttons and initiating the Mirage Colloid. It probably wouldn’t do much against such impressive opponents as Namarra’s Extended comrades, but it might give her a surprise advantage.

* * *

Shani’s suit—the Forbidden—swung his beam scythe high over Namarra, the Decay easily able to duck under the attack. At any other moment she may have mocked him for his poor piloting skills, but right then she was desperate to just get their attention. They had been blowing her off the entire time and the fact that Azrael was yelling at them probably didn’t help matters, but if they had been their real selves, they would never have been in that situation to begin with. “Shani, stop—I’m not gonna fight you. I can help you!” Shani didn’t reply verbally, merely swung once more over her head. Orga and Clotho had started flying towards the mainland, most likely eager to get to their real battle. She tried chasing after them, but Shani cut her off again. “Damn it, if you guys would just hear me out!”

The Calamity—Orga’s suit—and Raider—Clotho’s machine—combo slowed and turned back to the evading Decay. “Chicabo, listen,” Clotho started, but faded out. 

Namarra hesitated on the controls. Her muscles cramped as her foot let off the thruster. Leaning forward, she opened her mouth to talk and took her hand off the joystick. He had used her nickname.

There was a chance.

“Clotho—”

“Namarra!”

The Natural heard Eclipse’s scream, but didn’t have enough time to fully react to Shani’s swing and with her hand off the controls, she couldn’t put up any kind of real defense. His scythe sliced through her suit’s left thigh and down through her right knee, severing the limbs completely. She had managed to avoid more serious damage—with her left hand pulling the Decay up and away—but the body rattle and annoying sensors made her feel more like it had been a fatal blow. Her head bounced around in the cockpit and the more she tried to brace herself, the more it hurt. The Decay was working on stabilizing itself and trying to compensate for the missing limbs, but the suit wasn’t as advanced as her other teammates’ so the computer was slow and Namarra’s body couldn’t handle much more. She closed her eyes and tried to make her stomach calm down.

Shani’s finishing swing was coming, the Natural could feel it. She opened her eyes just in time to see the Forbidden’s scythe slashing across the front of her suit, the tip jamming into the right side of the cockpit. She heard the metal folding and cracking in response to the pressure and felt her muscles finally relax. If she had to be killed by someone, one of her comrades couldn’t be too bad. And at least it would be quick.

Namarra had seen her share of weird things in her life, but Shani missing a close-ranged kill wasn’t one of them. The tip of the scythe cut open the front of the cockpit, tearing out her screens and controls along with riddling her legs and arms with sparks from the severed equipment. The wires snagged on the jagged corners as they were torn away, making Namarra more than happy those wires didn’t wrap themselves around one of her arms or fingers and pull it out of the suit.

Her mind calmed down once she realized she wasn’t going to be slit in two, her eyes moving slowly upward to see the scythe being pushed away by—well—nothing. Sparks and the smell of burning metal came from about halfway down the curve of the weapon, but whatever was blocking the attack had managed to push the swing back enough to keep the Decay out of immediate danger. Looking away from the blade and over to the Forbidden, she saw his suit was only partially there. She could see the green top of its Geschmeidia Panzer, but nothing of his body. All she saw was a glossy reflection of herself and yet it wasn’t her at the same time. Everything was distorted, but from far away she knew it looked nothing more than an invisible savior. It was Mirage Colloid, Namarra knew, but was it another machine?

“Lexi?”

The blade held out for a little bit longer against the scythe until it finally sliced through. The half fell harmlessly into the ocean, but the scythe had to finish its swing and the Natural knew there was only one way it could go. She braced herself as best she could, feeling the full weight of the invisible machine falling back against her own.

Shani’s blade severed the Stealth’s left arm, sending a reaction down the wiring to fry the systems for the Mirage Colloid. The machine appeared in the air and both females could just see the smirk curling up Shani’s face. Another weakened enemy was just what he needed to brighten his day. He didn’t attack right away—most likely his suit was too bulky to have a quick recovery—the Stealth and Decay having a little time to stabilize themselves and anticipate the Forbidden’s next move.

“If he fires his Hresvelgr plasma cannon we’re dead,” Namarra said, biting her bottom lip as she pulled a shard of glass from her thigh. Cursing loudly, she quickly put pressure on the wound and threw the piece of glass out the gash in front of her.

“Then we should try to run.” Eclipse was fairing just as well except her problems involved a certain bite wound on her wrist and some skin pulled away on the opposite hand. She had disinfected the areas as soon as her body let her move to her suit, but the throbbing pain was now up to both shoulders. She was lucky her hands were gripping the controls because she couldn’t even feel her fingers.

“Yeah and he’d have us overrun in less than a minute.”

The Stealth’s screens started flashing red then and Eclipse looked at the Forbidden. He was going to fire the plasma. “Shit. Nam, cut your boosters.” Eclipse never got a response, but she knew the Natural had heard. She may have limited visual, but her radios were fine.

The Forbidden fired and the Decay dropped just before he shot. The blast went over its head as well as the Stealth’s when Eclipse went into a dive. Reaching out with her one good arm, she grabbed the Decay’s right elbow and they took off into open water, away from the battlezone. The Stealth was slower with the added weight, but Shani’s recovery time was even more sluggish after the blast than after his other attack. “Enemy suit not following,” the Stealth announced and both female pilots released their breath.

“I’m gonna swing around to the rocky area on the far end of Onogoro Island. Let’s just hope the fight hasn’t gotten that far.”

“Fine,” Namarra replied and Eclipse left it at that. No doubt there were a lot of things running through that head of hers and the redhead didn’t want to bother her. They were done with the fight for now.

Landing in a rocky area probably wasn’t her brightest idea, but they needed cover and since they were both ready to black out, they also needed seclusion. “Addict, I’ve marked the landing point. Go there, hide the two suits then activate the distress signal.”

“Roger that.”

“Namarra?” she asked, but heard no response. Taking a couple of quick breaths, she felt her head fall backwards against the headrest as her vision grew white then, finally, black.

* * *

“This is it,” FS muttered, the computer screen flickering as he watched the files being copied to a separate disk. “With this SIN-ED still prevails.”

“What’re you talking about, Pride? We just happen to stumble upon some unfinished research and you just assume it’s legit? This is nothing but mindless rambles of a religious nutjob!” Melanie screamed, pointing a finger at the screen and waving her other arm around frantically. “This shit doesn’t answer anything! Just tells us that religion and science are _not_ meant to mix together!”

“Melanie’s right, Pride,” Phoebe added, sifting through some papers on a nearby desk. The computer screen was the only source of light in the room, but she could see the words on the papers just fine. Not like she needed reports to tell her the truth, however. “It’s just a theory. We shouldn’t put too much trust in it.”

“No, it makes perfect sense! You haven’t seen her; I know she’s capable of this!”

“Of bringing about Judgment Day?” Phoebe asked. “Look, I’ve heard of the guy who did that research. He was trying to prove devils and angels existed in the world by using scientific evidence. Berserkers were believed to have survived in people’s DNA, so he based his entire research off that lone fact. I’m sure his imagination went off from there.”

“Then how do _you_ explain Berserkers?” FS asked.

“This is fuckin’ insane!” Wrath yelled, scattering the pieces of paper on the desk down and across the floor. “You mean to tell me that Lunar Eclipse, the damn redhead you two are so obsessed with is some kind of genetic devil sent to destroy all humanity? That’s bullshit! I’m not about to stake my life on—”

“Why do you think everyone wants her, huh?” FS countered, his eyes glowing from the light of the computer screen. The sweat shimmering across his forehead added to the frantic twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Them trying to control her and—ah, fuck, why hadn’t I realized it before? _That’s_ what Durandal and Roan were after; they were trying to copy her DNA. Can you imagine making more of her; trying to manifest that kind of power?”

Melanie slapped her hand down onto the desk near the computer. “Pride!”

“They could play God.”

“Pride, enough!” The Lust girl brought her hand back to slap him across the face, but he proved to be the quicker. Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, his free hand grabbed the back of her head and he slammed it hard and down onto the end of the desk. Her forehead hit with a _crack_ and she fell backwards onto the floor, unconscious.

“Melanie!” Phoebe screamed.

“Pride, what the fuck are you thinking?” Wrath shouted, taking a couple of steps towards FS. He left enough room for Phoebe to check on her sister, but still step in if something more was going to happen. “Let ZAFT believe in whatever the hell they want to. I’m not about to lose my mind and give into some bullshit!”

“Don’t you see?” FS continued, waving his arms out to the side and nearly knocking the computer off the table. His hands caught it before it fell, his eyes going wide and his breath quickening when he realized what had almost happened. Licking his lips, he turned his head to the side to see Wrath, his hands never leaving the screen. “Roan saw it. The Berserker’s the only one able to give us what we want. No, she may not be a _true_ Berserker yet, but give her time. Soon she’ll turn into the world’s executioner and start slaughtering people for the fuckin’ hell of it. Trust me, Judgment Day isn’t instant like the great religions say. Hell no, it’s slow and torturous and only the lucky ones die first.”

“Pride—ugh! Damn it! Gluttony, say something!”

Stray turned his attention to Wrath, his eyes neutral as he stood there in the doorway. His arms crossed over his chest, he leaned against the doorframe and watched the events from a distance. After blinking once, his eyes slowly moved back over to FS where they lingered for some time. Stray had normally been the one to avoid confrontation within the organization, but he had never looked so detached; so dead to the whole conversation. The light from the computer screen caught his eyes and the brief flash of his tongue as it streaked across his bottom lip. FS stepped a little to the side and more light hit Stray’s face just in time to see a sweat drop trickle from the hairline by his ear and down his neck. His stoic eyes flashed fear for a second before he rolled around the doorframe and out into the hallway.

“Gluttony!” Wrath and Phoebe shouted at the same time, but he was gone.

“That’s it,” FS continued, the other two shivering as if his whisper had brushed down their own necks. “That’s how we get her help. We have to impress her; appeal to better nature.”

“She’s not a god!” Phoebe replied, setting her sister on the ground and grabbing FS by his collar. He must have been too occupied with his own thoughts to not have reacted. “She can’t do _anything_ on her own!”

“No, not yet, but if she’s given more time—yes, if we put her back into an environment like she had on Januarias 4—she must have grown soft.”

“Damn it, stop your blabbering!” Phoebe brought up her left forearm and put it at his neck, slamming him backwards onto the desk. His back bent back across the wood and his feet slipped on some of the papers when he tried to regain some ground. “I’m _sick_ of hearing about that girl. If you wanted to fuck her, fine, all you had to do was ask us to grab her, but calling her a god? Now that’s going too far! Those two Berserkers are nothing but—”

“Two? What d’ya mean two?” 

She had failed to mention that little bit of information before.

Phoebe froze as she watched his red orange eyes shift from surprise to sadistic ecstasy. They glimmered in the light, shadows racing across the surface as if his own inner demons had finally broken out of their prison. His sanity had held on for a long time, but now and the devils inside of him were free and searching for some kind of desperate idea to cling onto. Looking into those eyes, Phoebe could have sworn she saw his lashes narrow in a way that made the whites of his eyes look like a toothy grin. Shivering, her heart skipped a beat and she barely heard him ask again, “What d’ya mean two?”

“The other assassin. You met her outside of Carpentaria.” Her breath quickened when he didn’t respond right away. “I-I didn’t say anything before because—”

FS’s mouth opened then, his eyes rolling backwards into his head as he laughed. “Fate; it _has_ to be fate! There’s _two_ of them? And they were _both_ chasing us? It’s a sign.”

“Dare I ask what you mean by a sign?” Wrath chimed in, his hand now lingering over the handgun at his waist. 

“We were _meant_ to bring humanity down on its knees. Now we have to prove it to them.” He shook his head, another chuckle—more like a gurgle—escaping his lips. “I can’t believe there’s two of them.” Wrath and Phoebe waited for him to calm down, the Lust girl still keeping a firm arm under his chin. She wasn’t putting enough pressure to be blocking his windpipe, but it had to be uncomfortable. Yet there he was, squirming on the table as if someone had slipped a cockroach down the front of his pants. 

Eventually his fit slowed, his breath returning to normal and his eyes opening to stare into Phoebe’s. She matched the look, but soon had to buckle in pain when she felt his knee jam up between her legs. The hold loosened and FS reached over to grab the middle finger on her left hand. Bending it backwards and twisting her arm to the side, he kicked the back of her right knee and forced her down to the ground. Wrath’s gun was up and aimed by the time she hit the floor, but he didn’t pull the trigger. 

FS turned to look at him, his head cocked to one side as a happy tear fell down his cheek. “Wrath, you are to head to Earth and hook up with Sloth. Lay low until I contact you again.”

“And if you don’t?” the Sin asked, his gun lowering. If he wasn’t going to be near FS anymore, he wasn’t going to kill him. Scared shitless, yes, but not enough to kill the person who gave him some sense of sadistic freedom.

FS smiled. “Then you gather up power and wait for the moment to start your own destiny.”

“If we all lay low _now,_ we could get SIN-ED up and running again soon. Isn’t that what you want?”

FS shook his head and wiped a strand of hair from Phoebe’s pain-filled face. “We have to act now. We’ll do something so horrendous the Berserkers will have no choice but to be impressed and then we’ll have them on our side. We’ll work together to get rid of those deserving death.”

“And then what?”

Chuckling, he let go of Phoebe’s hand and pushed her to the ground with his foot. “Then we’ll kill the Berserkers before they realize we deserve to die as well. My friends,” he cooed, walking back to the computer and grabbing the disk with the information imprinted there. “We’ll be gods.”

Stray rubbed clammy fingers up and down his arms, trying to scratch off the goose bumps gathering there. Leaning back against the wall, his body jumped when he heard the computer crash to the floor and the side of his head bumped the doorframe, leaving a painful buzz muddling around with his terrified nerves. There had to have been some kind of signal he missed because there was no way FS could just drop into the lowest level of insanity without so much as a warning. He had thought he was paying attention, but maybe he had slacked off? Had he been careless? Was this really all because of SIN-ED?

A piece of paper crunched loudly to his left and he jumped again, his head whipping around to come face to face with his old friend. FS’s lips were set in a straight line and his eyes cloudy as if in some distant memory, but even though his body was standing right there in front of him, Stray couldn’t see any sense of recognition there. Another sweat drop tickled the side of his face and FS seemed to notice, the right side of his mouth twitching into a clumsy grin. He brought up his hand and set it firmly on Stray’s shoulder. Cold; his hand was freezing. Even the comforting squeeze was more like daggers as his fingers pressed harder than they normally did, cutting into the tender areas around his shoulder.

“You’re too tense,” FS said, his lips forming the words sluggishly and the breath tumbling from his lips in a warm mist. The perspiration hit Stray’s face and he withheld the urge to run away. “We’ll get her back, just like you wanted.”

Stray said the first thing that came to his mind, almost as if his survival instincts had kicked in. “Good.”

The computer sparked from inside the room, illuminating FS’s face for one second, but what Stray had seen was pleasure. His old friend liked his response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. The work on this one went a bit faster than anticipated so I thought I would also put it up before New Years. Last one for 2020, I should think, so thank you to all who have stuck around reading this so far. 
> 
> Not sure what to say about this chapter other than we're stepping well into the beginning of the end, I think. Lots of MS battles coming up and I hate writing MS battles... Anyway, be prepared for more drama, more fights, and more of our plucky OCs with the SEED gang.
> 
> Happy New Year, everyone, and please take care of yourselves. 
> 
> Strata


	44. Picking and Choosing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Battle for Orb. Athrun arrives and the ZAFT pilots have to decide what they want to do.

Picking and Choosing

“This female is also Code Orange and stable at the moment, but I’m tempted to up her to Red given the situation. Shed the rest of this pilot suit and do a more thorough assessment when you get back to the tent. Start her on an IV drip and get antibiotics into her system. I don’t like the look of some of these cuts…”

“Sir, we’re low on antibiotics.”

“Start her on a low dosage of any antibiotic we have left. You’re a medical student, right?” There was a pause. “Good, I trust your judgment. If you’re still not comfortable, start her on a practically harmless dose until I get there. Although, with all these injured, it might take a while.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And the lacerations here on her head next to these bruises worry me. CT scan?”

“I’m not sure we have the equipment on hand, sir. Either that or there’s going to be a wait.”

Eclipse felt the touch of warm fingers brushing over the bruise on her upper cheekbone. Another hand picked up her good wrist and lightly passed over the cut skin on her knuckles.

“Stitch up the wounds and…” The voice faded out, the smooth male timbre slipping into the background as her ears focused on the other sounds around her. Someone—another soldier, she figured—was shouting the words “Code Black” and some other medical ramble Eclipse had never hoped to understand. She knew enough about mass field trauma to know Code Black meant dead and Code Red meant severe, but still able to survive; however when they started throwing out medicine names and amounts, she just zoned out.

“Damn Earth Forces bastards!” she heard a man yell nearby amid someone’s painful wails.

“Found the foot!” a different person shouted before her doctors’ conversation tuned back in.

“Have you found any kind of identification?”

“None on the bodies, sir, but the suits are listed as part of the Orb Special Forces. These machines don’t look made by Morgenroete though.”

“They’re probably not. We’re lucky to have so many allies, soldier. Take good care of them and when you’re finally able to identify them, notify the families.”

“Roger that.”

Eclipse’s head was swimming; there was really no other way to describe it. Her eyes, closed, darted behind her eyelids from one voice to the other, trying to discern the male tone, but having no recollection of where she was, let alone who was talking. Heavy. Everything about her felt heavy. She could still feel pain so there were no meds in her system yet, but she just couldn’t make that final leap into unconsciousness.

A cold disk slipped under the zipper of her pilot suit, making her eyes jump with the feeling, but her body failed to react. “She’s having difficulty breathing. Raspy. Might be fluid in her lungs. Intibate and remove the fluid.”

Something clamped onto her left bicep. “Blood pressure’s high.”

A cool instrument brushed across her forehead. “Temperature’s high and rising.”

“Get her and the other female to the tents.”

Eclipse felt her body moving and then heard the deafening sound of propeller blades. One more medic shouted about her temperature and she finally blacked out.

* * *

FS laughed.

It was a familiar sound, and one Eclipse found her body enjoyed no matter how long it had been since she had heard the chuckle. It was like a feather, a silky one used to trace the vertebra down her back and linger at the muscles just above her hips. She shivered and opened her eyes, looking towards the noise, but didn’t see the same person she had anticipated. Stray was standing there instead, munching on a sandwich of his own concoction, most likely. She watched him carefully, seeing how his mouth opened and closed with the chews. His jaw muscles bulged with every bite, forcing her to look somewhere else when a familiar itch warmed her cheeks. It had never been unnatural to have that reaction around Stray, but suddenly she felt embarrassed, like she had stepped in on something she shouldn’t have. But she just couldn’t look away. Turning her eyes upward once more, she followed his hands, watching his fingers tapping to an unheard melody as they squished into the soggy bread. The wetness soaked his fingers, crawling up his fingernails and making a trail down his wrist to soak into the cuff of his sweatshirt. She watched the material gather up the liquid, almost as if it was swallowing the juices and savoring the taste.

Blinking, Eclipse found she was standing right next to her old friend, the fascination with his eating habits bringing her close to him, but she never remembered moving. The thought scared her for a second, but Stray’s delicacies had stolen her fascination once more. Staring at the sandwich, she watched the liquid turn red, now bleeding through the white bread and looking more and more like a crimson inkblot as the juice expanded. His teeth sunk in for another bite, the bread giving way with a familiar squish and slurp as if the liquid was too delicious to pass up. When his lips pulled away, red strings stuck to his mouth, oozing spider webs draping from the teeth indents to his ruby lips.

Involuntarily, Eclipse felt her own tongue trace the front of her mouth and her jaw opened, her body leaning over to take a bite of her own. So close; she could feel the hot air bouncing from the sandwich as she breathed. And the smell. “Gorgeous,” she moaned, closing her mouth down onto the bread and squishing her own teeth through the red liquid. Closing her eyes, she swashed the food around in her mouth, every taste bud lighting in ecstasy as the substance passed from one side to the other.

Metallic.

She started chewing, but seemed to have grabbed a bigger bite than she had thought. Something hard and round was rolling around in her mouth. Pulling it out, she sucked off the juices before seeing what was in her hand.

Heine’s eye.

She wasn’t sure how she knew it was his—it could have been anyone’s green eye—but her mind was sure. Panicking, she dropped it to the ground and watched it spin, the movement making her so dizzy she took a couple of steps back, trying to get out of its view until it stopped and stared straight up. Then made a slow twist to her direction. She screamed and whipped around.

“Oof, ouch.”

She had run into someone. Running her fingers together, she felt the gritty threads as they were stitched next to each other and smelt the rich fragrance of cologne. She didn’t know the smell by name, but she recognized it, and that small bit of recollection calmed her, made her sink into the safe material before she turned her eyes upward to look into his face. “Yzak?” she breathed.

The redcoat smiled when she said his name, but the smile was weak, as if he was only happy for the acknowledgement and nothing more. “Why d’ya do it?” he asked, eyes narrowing now to match the seriousness in his voice.

Eclipse blinked, her mouth unable to give an intelligent answer. Hell, she didn’t even know what to say. Her throat went dry and her lips smacked together soundlessly, knowing there wasn’t any moisture there anymore.

“Why d’ya do it?” he asked again, bringing up a hand to point over her shoulder. She flinched from that movement—thinking he was going to hit her—but didn’t turn around to look. “Why would you kill them?”

“I-it wasn’t me!” she yelled, but his face, impassive, didn’t believe her.

“I saw you do it.”

“It wasn’t—it’s not me! I didn’t mean—” She froze, watching him… change.

It started up near his forehead, a deep red dot that slowly grew bigger and longer as it traced its way down his face and under his right eye. A zipper was the only thing she could think to describe it. His skin opened up to display the muscle tissue underneath in a slow rendition of how he had gotten his wound back in space, but this seemed almost worse. The cut festered outward, black and green veins stretching out to grab at the paleness of his cheeks and turn them sickly white until they bled to black. Eclipse stepped back to see his nose fall to the ground and his mouth open and close as he continued his interrogation. “Why d’ya do it?”

She finally turned to see three bodies lying on the ground, lying on top of each other in a pile of limbs. Eclipse didn’t have to see their faces to recognize the elite redcoats to know it was Nicol, Dearka, and Athrun. Her breath quickened as she stared.

“It wasn’t me!” she screamed.

“I saw you do it!” Yzak yelled and she shut her eyes, the scene shifting again.

_Step. Step. Step._

Her breath quickened.

_Step. Step._

The work shoes sounded like tap shoes, the noise echoing in the hazy blackness and growing louder as they approached. She should run, she knew, but her feet refused, the familiar feeling of the straps across her ankles as she tried to get her legs to move. She shouldn’t be there—they had no right to keep her there. _Why_ was she there?

_Step. Step._

Stop.

She squeezed her eyes tight.

“Increase the drug output.” It was a man’s voice; someone she recognized, but the name escaped her. “The Berserker’s sure to come out this time.”

A pair of lips curled upwards into a toothy grin.

* * *

Eclipse knew it was a nightmare as soon as she had opened her eyes, but the real question then was, did she come out of it? She looked to be in a tent of some kind, too small to hold more than three patients, but the other beds were empty. Two nurses stood off to her right, one trying to find the vein on the top of her hand and the other one setting the controls on a machine next to them. The high-pitched screech of the buttons made her breath quicken each time, a gasp breaking through her lips the moment the redhead saw the nurse reach for the green one labeled “Start.”

“No! Stop!” she screamed, pulling her hand away from the female trying to start the IV. “Stop!”

“C-calm down, Miss Rymyr,” one female stuttered, but Eclipse couldn’t tell which one. She was paying more attention to the fact that they were trying to pump some drug into her system again. The Berserker was at the surface of her subconscious, she could just feel it standing there, one hand poised on the door handle as the other pulled backwards to knock. 

“Don’t touch me! Not again! Stop!”

She did the only thing she could think of and flailed, one foot painfully making contact with a nurse’s gut and one hand raking across the other nurse near the machine. Eclipse knew she had to get her away from that contraption or it would start all over again.

It always started again.

“Don’t—just don’t! I can’t handle it, okay? I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“What’s going on here?” It was a man’s voice that time; a doctor, it looked like. Eclipse saw the flash of his white coat and the mask over his mouth, but the thought alone was enough to make her eyes go wide.

The Berserker knocked.

“Hold her down, I’ll give her the sedative,” he ordered.

“No, no—stop! I’ll behave! Please, just don’t give me anything!” Eclipse yelled, squirming away from their attempts to apprehend her. One nurse had a good grip on her arm, but Eclipse pulled it and the nurse over her body to nearly bump heads with the other nurse who had run around to her left side. 

“H-hey! You’re not allowed in here!” a distant voice yelled and there was a reply, but Eclipse had already uttered another plea and drowned out the sound.

When she had pulled the nurse over, Eclipse’s body had turned with the momentum, rolling off the cot. The nurse fell over onto the next cot, but the redhead had slipped in the gap between, her upper torso slipping down to the ground first. The redhead’s reflexes tried to catch her before she hit the cold earth, but she missed the side of the tent, her fingertips clawing at the material. The IV stand tumbled with her and crashed onto the cot, one of the nurses nearly getting stabbed with it as it fell. Ready for the impact, her muscles tensed, but she fell into a much warmer and softer embrace than the hard dirt. At first, she thought it was the doctor and she was going to start her retaliation all over again, but a glimpse of tan hands and his silky voice made her hesitate.

“Relax, you’re fine.”

Dearka.

“Holy Helmaya, I’m dead.” Her eyes widened. “Because you’re dead.”

He flashed a smile, his white teeth glowing against his darkened skin. “As blunt as ever.”

She stared at him for a couple more seconds, the information trying to soak into her sluggish brain. He was wearing an orange and black jacket typically worn by Morgenroete personnel and his lighter khaki trousers were now a dusty brown from the dirt. He was on his knees and leaning forward, the full weight of Eclipse’s upper back against his right arm as his left was across her front, steadying her. The doctor took advantage of the moment and she saw his body move over Dearka’s right shoulder.

“No—stop,” she started again, her legs falling to the ground next to him as she scrambled to get away, but his hands held firm, gripping her right shoulder. “Y-you’re dead. We couldn’t find you. A nightmare—a simulation—something. This isn’t real!”

The Berserker knocked again.

Twisting, she braced her hands on his chest, her knees collapsing to her chest as the sleeves of her pilot uniform flopped on the ground with the movement. Instead of breaking free, however, he held firm, his strong grip slowly starting to pierce her delusion. No simulation felt that real.

“You’re safe so please stop struggling. You’re in Orb, Lexi. _Orb_. I’m alive. You’re alive. We’ll all be fuckin’ alive if you just stop!”

Her antics grew sluggish, but her body refused to stop fighting entirely. Slowly she opened her eyes, catching his cautiously as if waiting for them to fall out of his face much like Yzak’s had started to. Her hands clenched the black collar of his jacket, involuntarily shaking as she tried to make some sense of the situation. “P-positive?”

He smiled again and Eclipse finally felt herself relax. Not even her mind would willingly call herself Lexi again and it definitely couldn’t fabricate a grin like that. “Want me to pinch you or something?”

“Just get her back onto the bed, Mr. Elsman. Don’t add to her injuries,” the doctor mumbled, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Dearka did as he was asked and Eclipse welcomed the help. Sliding back onto the cot, she still kept one hand clamped onto the bottom of Dearka’s coat. She felt the tug when he tried to pull away, but she didn’t hear him argue. In fact, she felt his shoulder move up and down in a shrug. 

The nurse to her right took a breath and tried to find a spot on her hand again for the IV. Dearka must have felt the additional tug on his jacket Eclipse did when she tensed because he put a hand on the nurse’s. “Can that wait?”

“Yes, yes it can. Her injuries don’t seem as severe as I originally diagnosed. Either that or I underestimated her healing abilities,” the doctor responded for her and Eclipse watched the nurse push the nearby machine back into the corner of the tent. Both women sighed, but probably not for the same reasons. Eclipse was just happy to know she wasn’t back to being a lab rat.

“Now, Miss Rymyr, how’re you—”

“Doctor! Doctor, come quick! It’s the other one!”

“The other—what?” The man spun on his heels and ran out the flap and to the tent next to hers. Squinting, Eclipse managed to see the silhouettes of three bodies struggling against each other. There were two more cots near the furthest end of the tent and Eclipse could see two injured soldiers huddling there, trying to keep as far away from their newest bunkmate.

Eclipse should have been surprised to hear about the other freak out, but since they both had psychological problems, Namarra’s panicking was probably more justified than shocking. “Kai! Kai, help me! Get them the _hell_ away from me!”

The redhead’s first reaction was to curse, but her second was a little more helpful. Pulling down on Dearka’s jacket, she pointed towards Namarra’s silhouette just as one of the nurses started screaming about the syringe stuck in her cheek. “Find me Lathan Rymyr—my brother.”

“Wha—”

“Now, damnit!”

“B-but—fine.” He turned to leave, but was pulled backwards when Eclipse still refused to let got of his jacket. 

Eclipse saw him look back at her and bit her bottom lip. “Just don’t be gone long.”

“They won’t hurt you—”

“Please.” He sighed and nodded, running out of the room just as someone fell back against the side of the tent, almost causing the whole thing to collapse entirely. She _had_ to do something. Dearka had put her back on the bed like the nurses had asked—which solidified the fact that he was, in fact, good at talking orders—but since everyone was trying to apprehend Namarra, Eclipse had to get out of the bed herself. Sighing, she peeled off the tape on her arm and pulled out the one IV still in her vein. Grimacing, she grabbed a tissue from one of the carts, put it on her newest wound, and swung her legs around the cot to land on the ground.

“Stop! Don’t touch me! Kai!”

Eclipse cringed when she heard an IV stand fall to the ground, the familiar cursing sounding right after. Setting the tissue nearby, she put her hands on the end of the bed and pushed up. She was still partially in her pilot suit, her grey undershirt and bra soaked through with sweat as the top of her suit dangled down near her waist. The cuts on her hands had been bandaged and she felt the tape holding the cuts on her face together as she cringed, taking a very uncomfortable breath. It was not going to be a fun trek.

Her legs complained at first; a sharp and painful whine that almost made her fall back down. Eclipse was stubborn, however, and bit her bottom lip. _Breathe,_ she thought, taking a step towards the entrance. A stethoscope flew out of Namarra’s tent just as Eclipse pulled aside the material. She looked down at the instrument and then took some more painful steps towards the commotion.

Peeking inside, she finally let loose the string of curses she was holding back. The medical staff had managed to get one wrist strapped to the cot—two brave male nurses were making sure the bed stayed on the ground—and it was constantly pulling at the frame, Namarra’s hand clenched into a tight fist as it pulled against the restraint. The rest of her body was flailing around, dodging the doctor’s attempts at grabbing her. One male nurse grabbed her right knee and calf, but she twisted her body awkwardly so the hold loosened. Her right free hand grabbed his hair and shoved him off to the side, taking a few brown locks in the meantime. Eclipse’s eyes grew wide as she watched, seeing Namarra’s left shoulder—on her bound side—lock then snap back into place when her body twisted back to a more normal position.

Eclipse gulped.

“Lexi, why are you standing out here?” Lathan asked as he ran over with Dearka trailing right behind. Her brother must have been hanging around if it took mere minutes to find him. Dearka turned and looked into the tent, a couple of curses leaving his lips as he ran in to help. Eclipse pointed and Lathan followed her finger, not like he couldn’t hear the commotion anyway. 

“And what the hell am _I_ supposed to do?”

“You have to pretend to be her brother Kai; that’s who she’s yelling for.”

He looked at the redhead then into the tent just as the doctor managed to strap Namarra’s other arm to the cot. There were definitely some teeth marks on his forearm. “Why do I have to be her brother when I already have a monster as a sibling?”

“Lathan.”

“What?”

“The only way to calm her down is to tell her she’s safe and that you’re right there. Don’t leave her side either.”

“ _What_?”

“Now go,” she said, pushing him on the shoulder. “Namarra’s body can’t handle much more of this.”

“Why the hell should I?”

“Because you’re so good at these things.”

“What does that mean?” A clipboard and papers clattered at their feet, the metal clip stopping just shy of Eclipse’s toes. Lathan looked from the ground up to his sister’s face. “ _Hell_ no.”

“Hell _yes_.”

“I can only stand one psychotic sister.”

“Just do it! I promise to do my own maintenance on the Stealth if you just _get in there_!”

That must have been the trigger because soon after he was stomping into the room and pushing the nurses aside to get to Namarra. He ducked under one of her high kicks and managed to get near her head without getting hit. Eclipse saw him take a deep breath and reach out to touch the Natural’s forehead. She snapped her teeth at his fingers.

Dearka helped strap the last restraint over her left ankle and turned to make eye contact with Eclipse. The slow glance and worried glimmer in his eyes told her they were thinking the same thing.

 _Fuck_.

“Namarra, calm down.” She didn’t seem to hear him. “Namarra, it’s Kai. You’re safe now.”

She turned her head that time and stared at him. Eclipse couldn’t see what was on her face, but she saw Lathan’s body relax. He reached over and put his hand on her forehead, brushing aside some stray strands. “Don’t let them hurt me,” she pleaded.

“No one’s gonna hurt you.” He sounded so confident, but woven together with that confidence was fear, Eclipse could hear it when he said “gonna,” as if he wasn’t totally sure what was going to happen after all. 

Namarra sniffed and gasped at the same time, her hands flexing under the restraints. “I’m stuck.”

“Because we don’t want _you_ to hurt yourself.”

Her toes curled as both feet kicked against the bed. “It hurts. Get if off.”

“Namarra—”

“Please, Kai!”

“Sis—”

Eclipse bit her bottom lip when she saw the Natural’s body twitch violently. Namarra _couldn’t_ handle another fit. She had said her body just lost all control whenever she heard her dead brother’s name. No wonder she embraced her Berserker side even more than Eclipse did. It seemed to be so much easier to handle.

“Mr. Rymyr, I really don’t think—” the doctor started when Lathan’s fingers started undoing the buckle on her right wrist, but Dearka put a hand on his shoulder and started unbuckling the leather strap across her thighs.

Lathan gave him a light smile of thanks. “Alright,” he began, turning back to Namarra, “they’re coming off. Just stay calm.”

Eclipse started getting nervous. She didn’t know what would happen after she calmed down. It was a good thing they were near medical equipment because at least no one in the room could die. Well, maybe not quickly at least.

They were all off but one and when Lathan unbuckled the last restraint, the air around them just stopped moving. No one dared breathe, probably fearing the Natural would react to the sudden movement and start her fit all over again. With everyone having at least one injury from either her hands or her feet—hell, even her teeth—getting her restrained again wasn’t going to be easy.

In the end, it was all rather anti-climatic. Namarra took the first breath and curled up on her side, hugging Lathan’s hand to her chest and crying quietly. Lathan rubbed her head and back with his free hand, trying to soothe her as best as he could. Most of the medical personnel left the room—some staying to tend to the other injured in the tent—and one nurse bent down to grab the objects keeping the flap from fully closing.

Dearka walked to Eclipse, his right hand scratching the back of his head as he shook it. “Friend of yours?”

She gave a small laugh. “Something like that.”

Dearka shrugged and helped her back to her cot. “You know, I was enjoying how quiet it was when you weren’t around.”

“Now _that’s_ a lie,” she countered and they shared a laugh.

Yes, her and Namarra were definitely an interesting pair.

* * *

“Now, are you _sure_ you wanna be walking around out here?” Dearka asked, his arms involuntarily reaching out to steady Eclipse when she leaned forward on her crutches.

She slapped his hands away. “You’ve never chided me before, Dearka, and you’ve seen me on these things _plenty_ of times.”

“Well, seeing as it’s only been four hours since you were found mangled in your suit, I wouldn’t exactly say you’re healthy.”

“Healthy is a state of mind,” she muttered and Dearka rolled his eyes. “I don’t trust Lathan’s damage report, so I want to see the Stealth.” She held up a hand before he could say anything. “Yes, he’s the mechanic, but my suit can handle its own and no two, cowardly Strike Daggers could have done _that_ much more damage to it,” she grumbled. Lathan had said that just before the recovery crew had picked up them and their suits, two Strike Daggers had attacked their descending machines. The Decay hadn’t taken much more damage, but apparently the Stealth had fought them off and sustained more than a few dents. Perfect.

“A little cocky for someone who doesn’t have Phase Shift armor, don’t cha think?”

“And you’re a little faint-hearted for someone who knows my talents. Say that again when I’m fully healed.”

Dearka cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t reply. Probably knowing anything he could say would only make the matter worse for him. That reaction actually made her curious. Dearka had never been the one to fly off the hook like Yzak, but he always had some kind of smart remark.

“You okay?” she asked. When he didn’t seem to read her mind, she explained. “You’re more reserved.”

“Reserved?”

“You actually think before you talk now.”

His response that time was intriguing. Slowly, the muscles around his eyes loosened and the questioning expression slipped from his face. His shoulders slumped as well, but not like his body was getting ready for anger—as Eclipse expected—but like he was reviewing some kind of memory in his head. She was going to watch his eyes and try to figure out what memory was haunting him, but she turned away at the last moment, feeling like she was intruding on something too personal. That actually worried her.

“A lot’s happened.” Was all he said and went quiet.

She looked back at him and saw his attention elsewhere. Following his eyes, she almost knocked him upside the head. He was staring at a girl—about the same age as her—with light brown hair cut short at the chin. Wearing a pink Earth Forces uniform with a yellow skirt, Eclipse figured she was a Natural and that made her even more curious. While Dearka had never said as much outright, his feelings on Naturals had always been clear to the redhead, and so had his father’s, which Dearka seemed to echo. His face in that moment, however, told the opposite story. The girl wasn’t terribly tall, didn’t stand out as overly gorgeous, but, for some reason, Dearka looked at her like—well, she had never seen him look at anyone like that.

“Who is she?”

“Hm?”

Eclipse reached across his body and put two fingers on the far side of his chin. Pulling his attention back to her, she narrowed her eyes. “The girl. Given her uniform, I’d say she’s on the _Archangel_.” She recalled the conversation they had had about a half hour before and smirked. “Was she your bodyguard when you were in the brig or something? I didn’t know you were into that.”

He blushed; Dearka actually blushed.

“I—well—no—I mean—” He sighed. “It’s a long story.” The redhead swept her arms out wide, indicating her crutches. He seemed to get that she had plenty of time to listen. “One of us killed her boyfriend and I made a really stupid comment.”

“Wait, she told you one of our team killed the possible love of her life and you mocked her?” She blinked, mouth open. “You bastard.”

“No, no, it wasn’t like that. She—ugh, it all happened so fast. The bottom line is—”

“You feel bad and want to make it up to her, but she’s holding a grudge. I get it.”

“That’s part of it, but I think I realized then the enemy’s human, like we are.” Eclipse watched him go quiet as he looked back over at the girl. His face softened as his hands slowly clenched in anger. Or was it guilt? “I _do_ feel really bad about what I said—and she didn’t let me get shot because of it—but I don’t pity her. I’m curious, actually.”

“Curious?”

He turned back to the redhead. “Yeah—wait—what’s the face? That’s not creepy.”

“Depends on where you’re going with this.”

“I’m curious about her, okay? I hurt her, yes, but she was strong enough to stop another grieving girl from killing me. I made the comment to _her_ ,” he pointed towards the brunette, “and she saved _me_.” He pointed back at himself. “When Nicol was killed, I never would have—I mean, he wasn’t even my—it’s just so—” Fading out, his tense shoulders slumped again.

“That _is_ strength,” Eclipse agreed, watching the girl stop and lean back against the Freedom’s leg. Eclipse kept looking past where she had stopped to see Cagalli in her Orb uniform running nearby with two white cups. Shaking her head, she returned to Dearka before she could get distracted. “So, what’cha gonna do about it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“She’s grieving.”

“And as a worried friend, your duty is to keep your distance, but still be close by if she needs someone to rely on.”

“Friend?”

Eclipse sighed, but mainly because his face looked genuinely confused. “What, you expected all or nothing?” He shrugged and Eclipse pushed him in the shoulder. “C’mon, let’s see what the commotion’s all about. I see the captain of the _Archangel_ over there too.”

“Oh, I guess you didn’t hear. Athrun jumped in and helped out Orb in the battle.”

Her crutch slipped on the cement, well, more like she was so shocked by the news her body collapsed on its own. Trying to cover her surprise, she grumbled a little about the crutches. “Does that mean ZAFT is backing Orb?” she asked once they started moving again.

Dearka shrugged. He hadn’t tried to catch her that time. Good. “I thought that’s why you were here originally, but then I heard snippets about your time in the PLANTs. Lathan,” he answered when she looked quizzical. “I’m sorry, Lexi—I hear that’s what you’re going by nowadays,” he added with a soft smile before his face turned sour once more. “I wasn’t told everything, but if it’s worse than what I do know, I didn’t realize ZAFT did that type of thing. Somehow this goes beyond the typical ‘destroy the Earth Forces’ mantra.”

Her eye twitched at the name, but she shrugged off the other comments. “Shit happens.”

“Yes, and it always seems to happen to you. You just have awful luck.”

She shrugged again and followed Dearka over to where the brunette had stopped behind Kira and Athrun. Kira had already changed back into his Earth Alliance uniform, but Athrun was still in his ZAFT pilot suit, the two of them sitting together a stark reminder of their desperate battle not too long ago. Eclipse started paying attention to the conversation then and was pleased to hear that Athrun was starting to think for himself. Plenty of things had happened back in the PLANTs so he had to have had questions for a while and no doubt his discussion with Lacus had added to his confusion. But his concerns mirrored her own.

What now?

“I believe that what Cagalli’s father says is true,” Kira began, accepting the drink from the Orb princess. “If Orb was to side with the Earth Forces, the Atlantic Federation would take advantage of its power and attack the PLANTs. And the same thing would happen if Orb sided with ZAFT, the only difference would be in which country they were designated as the enemy. But either way,” he continued, stopping Athrun before he could interrupt his thought, “there’d be no real change for the better. I _can’t_ let it go on like that. And _that’s_ the reason why.”

“But you—” Athrun started and Kira interrupted him again.

“I know, I killed a comrade of yours; a personal friend.”

Eclipse and Dearka tensed at the statement. The redhead turned away and cursed quietly while the blond just sighed. The girl glanced back and looked at them both but didn’t say anything. She locked eyes with Dearka for a second, but soon turned away.

“But I—” Kira paused, probably seeing the pain on Athrun’s face. “I never knew him or even met the guy, and it’s not as if I _wanted_ to kill him.”

 _Now he’s just making excuses,_ Eclipse thought, her anger growing once again. She didn’t necessarily blame _him_ for Nicol’s death—at least she was trying to convince herself of that—but the way he went about it bothered her. _Take responsibility for once._

It was probably a good thing Kira didn’t notice the angry redhead behind him. “And _you_ killed Tolle.”

Now it was the brunette’s turn to gasp and turn away, but the look on her face was nowhere near what had just been etched on Eclipse’s. Hers was pure anguish accented by quick, raspy breaths and trembling. It looked so bad Eclipse almost reached out to comfort her, but Dearka made the move first. His hands went out to steady her, but they stopped halfway and fell back to his sides, fingers curling in frustration.

“But you never knew him either. You didn’t _wanna_ kill him, right?”

“No,” Athrun responded and Eclipse looked back at the two pilots. “But I tried my hardest to kill you.”

“Same here.” Kira turned away and looked up at Athrun’s mobile suit in front of them. “Look, Athrun, it would be great if we lived in a world where we never had to fight. If only we could all live in that world forever, but this war keeps escalating.” He paused and looked back at his drink. “If it goes on like this, PLANTs and Earth will have no choice but to destroy each other. And that’s why _I_ decided to fight.”

“Kira…”

“I just wanted to protect others, but now that I’ve pulled a trigger, it’s too late to go back.” Kira and Athrun looked at each other, but only for a brief moment before the ZAFT pilot looked down. “Are we gonna have to fight each other again?” Athrun’s muscles tensed at the question, but he neither looked up nor made any kind of vocalized answer. That was what he had come to figure out.

Kira smiled softly then stood, putting the cup down where he had just been sitting. “I should get back to my duties now. We never know when they’ll attack us again.”

Athrun rose at the same time. “I just have one question. The Freedom is equipped with a Neutron Jammer Canceller. What would happen if that data—”

“If anyone tried to get that data from me for their own purposes, I’d shoot them.” It was a bold statement, but one Eclipse was actually happy he made. Hell, if anyone else got that data, she would shoot both people involved.

The brunette’s grief spilled out then, her quivering eyes turning to tear-filled ones once the conversation had ended. Turning away, she started running, but Dearka grabbed her elbow before she had gotten too far. “H-hey!”

“What d’you want?” she yelled.

“Ah, well—uh—look—I—he’s the one that killed that guy—y’know—Tolle?”

“So, what’s your point? Weren’t you listening to Kira? This is what he meant!”

“Uh, well—”

“Would killing him bring Tolle back to me?” Everyone went silent, the statement most likely touching each person who had been listening to the conversation. Eclipse even turned back to see Athrun, but his face held a different kind of grief, one that made the redhead’s stomach sink just watching him.

_Shit._

“Of course it wouldn’t,” the girl continued, her voice cracking. “So why don’t you just stop _talking_ about it?” Her sobs nearly drowned out the last three words, and when she started running away again, Eclipse figured there were some crew members who understood her grief, but knew few would want to revisit that pain again.

 _Such strength though,_ the redhead thought, watching Dearka chase after her. _She has the perfect chance to take revenge and she just turns the other way. I guess I can’t blame the guy for being curious after all._ She didn’t follow Dearka. She let him handle it and after the affection he had shown earlier, Eclipse was certain he would handle the girl better than she ever could. 

Cagalli lingered a bit after the talk, watching Athrun fall back into his seat before attempting to say something. Her mouth opened then closed and opened again after she took a moment to think about what she wanted to say. Eclipse wasn’t sure what her cousin asked Athrun, but seeing the apprehensive smile on her lips as she spoke and the disappointment on her face when he shook his head no, gave her the impression Athrun had too much on his mind. The redhead gave a secret smile after the exchange, knowing her old comrade rarely wanted to do anything when he was in a thinking mood.

“Eclipse?”

Or not.

She was turning away to find the Stealth—and was actually in the middle of the half circle to point her in the right direction—when her good knee locked and her eyes grew to liking their lids closed, even if they were shut in pain. But she couldn’t just leave without accomplishing anything. Leave it to Athrun to make her stay just a little bit longer. Lifting her crutches up one at a time, she turned back to see him. “Yo.”

He laughed—a strained sound, but it was a chuckle nonetheless—and, at the same time, Eclipse saw her cousin’s face droop. “You’re on crutches and that’s the first thing you think of to say?”

“I’m sorry. Does, why the hell are you here, sound better?”

“That’s a start.” He stood and walked towards her, probably seeing that she wasn’t about to hobble in his direction. Perhaps noticed her reluctance and assumed it was fatigue.

Eclipse watched him come over and caught another glimpse of Cagalli behind him. There were a number of different expressions swirling across her face. One was confusion, another curiosity, and still another was, _Jealousy?_ the redhead thought, surprised to see such an ugly look contorting her fair face. But why the emotion at all? She _had_ to have known they were on the same team for the better part of six months.

“Funny,” she grumbled back to Athrun and resisted the urge to smack him across the head with her crutch for the comment. It probably wouldn’t have done much for her physical condition, but, damn, it would have made her feel a lot better emotionally. And maybe him as well since the past conversation wasn’t exactly a happy one.

“So, seriously, what _are_ you doing here? Is ZAFT planning to help Orb?”

Athrun shook his head slowly. “Not that I know of, my mission is to reclaim the Freedom and nothing more.”

“With your new machine?”

“The Justice, yes.” He nodded back and to his right, indicating the suit Kira had been looking at earlier. It looked a lot like his old suit, the Aegis, just with a few more armaments on its shoulders. She would have to get the full spec from him later if he planned on sticking around. “I see you still have the same machine, or what’s left of it.” He pointed to the Stealth in the back corner of the hangar. Nodding her head in that direction, they made their way towards it.

“What? You expected me to be welcomed back with a three-day party and newly fashioned mobile suits for me to choose from?” Athrun shrugged. “Damn, what do you think of me?”

“I know you’re a decent pilot.”

“Decent?”

“Sorry, did I exaggerate?”

She narrowed her eyes and shoved him in the shoulder. “And when did you become so playful—or is it sarcasm, Athrun Zala? Trying to pawn your pain off on me?” She expected him to deny it or make some snarky remark, but instead, he sighed and looked off to his left. Eclipse followed his gaze and saw the vanishing strands of Cagalli’s familiar blonde hair. The redhead shook her head, but didn’t say anything.

“Something like that.”

“You admit it?” He ignored the retort and they finished their walk to the Stealth in silence. 

Stopping just in front of the lift, Eclipse gazed up at her suit. The left arm was completely severed at the shoulder, wires dangling from the limb as if someone had tried to fix it and gave up. The head was also cut off and there was no sign of it lying around nearby. Eclipse sighed. The armor looked battered and she knew the Mirage Colloid was fried, but apart from the missing arm and head, it looked to be in fine condition. 

Just not in fighting condition.

“C’mon,” she started, motioning Athrun over to the lift and pulling the lever back once they were both aboard. It stopped at the cockpit and Eclipse leaned forward to peer inside. She was going to try and sit down, but Athrun grabbed her elbow, shaking his head. The redhead was angry at first, but eventually let him pull her back against the rail. She stared up at her suit—realizing the CA must not be working either since it had been so quiet—while he watched the people walking below.

“Tell me, if you weren’t kicked out of ZAFT, would you have left soon anyway?”

She paused before answering, watching his face for some kind of indication of what he wanted to hear. He looked genuinely curious, but anxious as well. His eyes shifted nervously from side to side, looking into each of her eyes most likely. “The truth?” she asked and he nodded. Turning away, she stared at one of the deep gashes in the Stealth’s good shoulder. “I never thought about it until I was transferred,” she paused, realizing she had never told him what had happened to her. DaCosta and Waltfeld had been against the idea at the time. Sighing, she continued despite their initial fears. “I had never thought about it until I was transferred to the medical facility.”

“Medical facility?” Athrun asked and she gave a weak smiled with another shrug.

“A tale for another day, I suppose,” she said softly, turning back to look at the Stealth. “Some of my friends started putting the idea in my head, but I had never seriously considered it. When I saw Commander Waltfeld again—“

“Waltfeld?”

She smiled and nodded. “When I saw him alive again, my fighting resolve was practically gone. I had been fighting for his memory, Aisha’s, and for Nicol’s, but once I found out at least _one_ of those people had survived I couldn’t help but think, I didn’t let _all_ of them die after all. So, who cares? He offered me a chance to get out and, for some reason, I couldn’t say yes.”

“SIN-ED?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t think that was all of it. I don’t know _how_ to live without fighting, I think.”

“Well, that’s not true. You’re in Orb, aren’t you?”

“Yes, and how do you think I got on these crutches?”

He shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to know. “So, to answer my first question, you wouldn’t have left willingly?”

“Honestly, I _can’t_ answer that. I don’t know. Events made the decision for me and now I have to live with it.” Turning, she watched him go silent, the muscles in his face and body slumping in response. “ _You’re_ considering it, aren’t you?”

“I’m sure you heard most of the conversation I just had with Kira and some things don’t make sense anymore. People I care for are turning into people I should be opposing and those I’ve sworn to protect are now people I would have normally _chosen_ to oppose. Making sense?” She nodded and he continued. “So, where does that leave me? I’m supposed to either destroy or bring back the Freedom. But then what? Could I even live with knowing that I could be killing Kira to finish the mission? I barely got through the first time. But to disobey my father? The Supreme Council Chairman? _And_ to take a new mobile suit to boot?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He turned to her then, curious and eager to hear her opinion. “You’re fucked.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. “You got nothing more helpful than that to say?”

“From what I’ve observed, I know the PLANTs have gotten a little crazy of late.” Athrun gave her a funny look and she just shrugged. “And I know reasoning won’t work. I’m going to wash my mouth out with hydrogen peroxide after this, but you’re a lot like Kira and this country. You’re smart, Athrun; observant. This war isn’t what we expected—no, that didn’t sound right. It’s become more than a war of jealousy. It seems to have excelled into—uh—into…”

“No man or woman left standing?” he chimed in and she nodded.

“Something like that. I don’t have enough power to change anything on a large scale, but I can do what I can with the little power I was given.”

“How so? Protect people like Kira’s doing?”

“I dunno yet,” she replied, an innocent shrug making her body whine in resentment. “But we’re not supposed to be talking about _my_ inner turmoil. You’re the one who’s fucked. At least I kinda have a bed I’m comfortable in.”

He sighed and shook his head, a small smile gracing his serious appearance. “Leave it to you to avoid the issue.” She punched him on the shoulder again and he rubbed the spot before talking. “I’m not totally sure what I wanna do yet, but being here—with these people who seem to agree with me—I’ve never felt so comfortable; so sure of myself.”

“Wait, you just said you didn’t know what you were going to do and yet you’ve just never felt so confident?”

“Confusing, I know. Try having it run a marathon in your head.”

“Actually, it might be your answer,” she mused, rocking back and forth on her crutches. “Stay here a while and think about it. Right now, every moment is important, but not every one has to contain some kind of life-changing decision. Relax and observe; figure out what you want. And for Helmaya’s sake go talk to my cousin.” He blinked—surprised at the comment—and followed the redhead’s pointer finger to Cagalli below talking with a mechanic. “Whatever playboy charm you enchanted her with either act on it or rip it out of her because I’m sick of her jealous glares and secret feminine loathing.”

“She’s the girl I met on the island; the time I was stranded.”

“I figured as much, but please don’t go into detail or anything. I really _don’t_ want to know.”

“W-what?” Athrun stuttered, not blushing but still taking up some kind of defensive position.

Eclipse laughed. “Your denial’s cute, Athrun, but remember, she _is_ Orb’s princess.”

“Honestly, Eclipse, who do you think I am?”

The redhead surprised herself, or—more accurately—her emotions shocked her. Athrun had been the first person to not correct himself and call her by her real name. Dearka had just done it and even Namarra—although, mostly out of spite—had begun calling her Lexi. She shouldn’t have been upset, hell, she didn’t even consider herself “Lexi” yet, but her cocky smile fell nonetheless. The sides of her mouth slipped into a frown, one so obvious she turned away before Athrun had time to digest it.

“Wow, that bad, huh?” he asked, the blind happiness never leaving his lips. “I will talk to her eventually and,” he added quickly, holding up a finger, “I’ll tell her to stop sending you jealous vibes.”

“Sounds good to me,” she replied, turning around again to lean back against the lift’s railing and stare at the Stealth. She needed to think about something that made sense instead of all the stupid emotions running around in her head. “But you should rest as well,” she continued. “We probably won’t get attacked until dawn, but I wouldn’t put it past the Atlantic Federation to try something rash.”

Sighing, he turned and looked at her suit as well, putting his hands on the railing as he took in the damage. “My body’s rested enough and my mind’s too confused to go to sleep now. Besides, if I only have until dawn, I have quite the decision to make in the meantime.”

Eclipse nodded, but cast him a stern look nonetheless. “Yes, sleeping might be difficult, but resting merely involves just relaxing for a change. Please rest, Athrun.”

“Then _you_ promise to do the same. You probably don’t want to hear this, but she isn’t gonna be ready to fly by dawn.” He nodded towards the Stealth then brought up his hand and flicked her on the forehead. She blinked, surprised by the gesture, but even more shocked by the genuine concern on his face. “And _you_ won’t be ready either, I’m afraid. Now, go rest and I’ll try to save you from your cousin.” He smiled and Eclipse felt her lips curl in the same movement. She was happy he was there, and even more impressed with how comfortable he seemed to be while in such a delicate position. Yes, she could tell he was struggling with loyalties, but he didn’t seem to want to worry her. It was a change.

But definitely a good one.

* * *

Eclipse got very little rest that night. Dearka had come out to her medical tent to check on her and even slept on one of the other open cots, claiming his only bed was a jail cell. The doctors had been forced to keep Namarra in a deep sleep because her temperature refused to stabilize and she would often have fits. Lathan, to his credit, stayed close to her until the two of them had been transferred to Kaguya Island, Orb’s last safe house and the location of its Mass Driver. Lathan had been assigned to an internal engineering team and Namarra could rest safely in one of the medical facilities. Even with so much time staring at the ripples in the tent cloth—or counting the seconds between Dearka’s snores—dawn came quickly.

And she had no idea what to do.

The Stealth was still a standing piece of rubble and even though she could probably snatch an Astray, she was in no condition to pilot it. Her stubbornness could only go so far and she really didn’t want to worry everyone by being so stupid. Besides, she wouldn’t be of much help anyway. But there was the other promise she made to Namarra that was really eating her nerves.

To save her brothers.

With Namarra out and Eclipse practically bed-ridden, there was no one to talk some sense into the Earth Forces pilots and after the time she had seen the four of them together, she couldn’t imagine not extending her help even a little bit. Besides, wouldn’t talking Orb’s three biggest threats into joining them be a gamble worth taking? The redhead could just sit in the Stealth’s cockpit and use the radio, but Lathan had taken both the Decay and her suit with him to Kaguya. His new appointment was rather suspicious, actually, and Eclipse found herself more than concerned, but she wasn’t about to tell him to disobey a direct order.

“Kaguya it is then,” she admitted with a sigh, watching the sun peek through the small slit in the tent. She wouldn’t argue with the nurse that time when she came back to take her vitals.

Dearka awoke minutes later, stretching loudly to her left. “Dear God, these are uncomfortable.”

“At least you slept.”

“You’ll have a chance to rest more today.”

Shifting on the cot, she turned to offer a glare. “Hah, good one; rest.”

“But you’re heading to Kaguya, right?” He winked when she looked confused. “You weren’t the only one thinking.”

“Could’ve fooled me. You snore like a sailor.”

“And you moan like a—well—I won’t finish that since you’re not one of my guy friends.”

“What?” She laughed. “Think I’d be offended?”

He thought about that then shrugged. “You have a point. You’re the manliest female I’ve ever met.”

“Hey!”

“Oh, _now_ you’re offended?”

“Glad to see both of you awake,” the nurse interrupted, seemingly not apologetic for barging in unannounced. “Did you sleep well?” She just smiled knowingly when she got blank stares. Walking over to Eclipse’s cot, she checked the IV bag before taking the redhead’s temperature and blood pressure. “Now, Miss Rymyr, I know you’re not going to like this, but we’ve been evacuating as many injured as we can to Kaguya. Given your current state, you’re going too.”

Eclipse sighed and looked down at her wrapped ankle. Her pilot suit was folded beneath it, the lack of pillows making it the only thing left to prop up the injury to keep down the swelling. Lifting her hands, she wiggled her fingers and felt the bandages there sliding across the medical cream helping her stitches heal the skin underneath.

“Yeah, I figured as much. You’re right.”

“Good. Your parents wanted—”

“ _What_?”

“—me to tell you they’ll see you when you get there.”

“Oh, another family reunion,” Dearka commented, receiving a glare from Eclipse. “I heard how fun the first one went.”

“Shut up.”

“Princess Cagalli has asked that you join her in her transport. Your infection wasn’t too severe, but since you refused regular treatment, we’ll give you one more shot to boost your system just in case. Your temp is normal and your blood pressure’s a little bit high, but that’s to be expected.” She rattled a bottle of pills and tossed them into her lap. “For pain. Take one every five hours or as needed.” The two females made eye contact and the nurse pointed at the pills with her pen. “I strongly advise you to take them.”

“I have a high pain tolerance.”

“And I have a high tolerance for bitching patients, but it doesn’t mean I enjoy listening to them. Just take the pills.”

Dearka covered up at laugh and was awarded with two icy glares from the females. He held up his hands in surrender and rose, shuffling his way to the exit. “Point taken. I gotta check on the Buster anyway.”

“Hey, could you find Athrun for me? I want to talk to the both of you before I leave.”

“What, last will and testament?” he joked, though not even he found it funny. “Yeah, I’ll go get him.”

“She’ll be here. We have to change the bandages,” the nurse said, pulling over a stool. Eclipse and Dearka exchanged glances then he was gone. “Now,” she continued, helping the redhead sit up, “we’ll start with your back.”

Her two teammates returned just as Eclipse was finishing her ankle exercises. Athrun pulled aside the tent flap and cringed when he saw how swollen it was. The purple and blue bruising probably didn’t help matters.

“Here, I’ll leave the ice with you and you keep your foot in there while you talk. Don’t,” the nurse waved a finger at her, “take it out until I get back.” Grabbing the end of the bucket, she slid it over to the side of the bed and pointed to the ice water.

“You’re very demanding,” Eclipse muttered and finished wrapping the bandage around her toes to keep them from freezing. She was used to the rehab, but still found it all exhausting. Bracing herself, she slipped her sprained foot into the ice water. There was no feeling at first, but then a biting cold that seemed to attack the bruising itself. Shivering once, she grabbed the sheet on her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders.

The nurse, satisfied, left soon afterwards. Athrun sat down on the vacant stool and Dearka plopped onto the end of the bed.

“Did you make a decision?” she asked Athrun, bringing her healthy ankle up and under her other thigh to keep those toes warm. Wrapping the sheet around the knee too, she hugged herself even tighter.

He sighed, but didn’t respond right away. Dearka and Eclipse exchanged glances, knowing he was running out of time.

“Tough choice, isn’t it?” the blond began. “Your orders are to take the Freedom back, right?” Athrun nodded and shrugged at the same time. It seemed like everyone knew his mission by now. “It’s not gonna go over very well. We’re all ZAFT soldiers—” Eclipse cleared her throat. “Oh, well you and I are, but if we keep intervening like this…” He trailed off, leaving the rest of the statement for their imagination. They all knew the consequences very well. 

A part of Eclipse felt relieved. She didn’t have to make the decision with them, hell, she couldn’t even fight in the battle, so despite being stuck to a medical bed for the next couple of days, her future was looking a bit better. It was hard, however, to be on the bench while everyone else sacrificed themselves. Her Berserker half wasn’t too happy either. More likely than not, that was the reason why she was healing so quickly. After all, she had felt good enough to be on crutches almost four hours after being found half dead. It was a good thing the doctors and nurses were too busy to really be paying close attention to her condition other than the positive results she was garnering.

Athrun and Dearka kept to their own thoughts a little bit longer, most likely having loyalties to contemplate. Both had parents on the Supreme Council and had willingly joined ZAFT in the first place. Eclipse may have been in that boat before, but a lot had happened since her volunteer entrance exam.

“Just tell me one thing,” Eclipse started, looking from one to the other. “Would you always regret leaving?”

Dearka and Athrun looked at each other before thinking it over again. Athrun was the first to speak. “I don’t want them to—” He paused, probably trying to find the right words. “I don’t want any of them to die.”

Dearka smirked, his left eyebrow arching in surprise. “Now that is amazing. For the first time we agree on something.” They looked at each other then, locking eyes and matching smiles. Eclipse almost expected them to spit on their hands and shake or share blood. Well, that among other things.

“Did you guys want me to leave or something? I feel like I’m about to witness a porno.”

The looks were priceless. Each of their faces said something different. Athrun looked surprised, appalled, and amused all jumbled together. Dearka just looked proud. But they both did the same thing and ruffled her hair.

“Just don’t die, okay?” Eclipse muttered as their fingers made a mangled knot out of her red strands. They stopped and pulled their hands back, forcing her to look at each of them in turn. “I’m not going to be out there to save your asses, so you’d better not do something stupid.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll kick some Earth Forces booty,” Dearka said, a wink ending his declaration. Athrun sighed, but soon agreed. He muttered something about his dumb cliché, but Eclipse’s smile had faded when she remembered Namarra again.

“Shit,” she muttered. The guys looked at her, but she waved them off.

“Alright, but what do we do about those three machines?” Dearka asked and Eclipse cursed again.

“I didn’t get to see much of their fighting style, but I don’t think they have any strong attachment to each other,” Athrun remarked.

“So, make them angry.”

“They’re a bit too powerful to piss off, Dearka.”

“Pansy,” the blond mumbled.

“Hey, just because you get the small fry doesn’t mean you can make fun of my fighting style.”

“Wait, you have style?”

Eclipse let them bicker until the nurse came back to shoo them outside. They said their goodbyes after that, the redhead impressed with how well they could hide their nerves. Perhaps only one of them could be worried at once and it was definitely Eclipse’s turn. She was benched with only a promise keeping a very powerful, Berserker alliance together. And neither side of that alliance could keep the promise in the next fight. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do but she closed her eyes and prayed.

Prayed Orb’s three biggest threats survived the battle.

* * *

Cagalli came to pick her up about half an hour after the guys left. Eclipse had changed into some loose pants and an orange Morgenroete jacket before following her cousin over to Kisaka and the helicopter. The sun was just peeking over the horizon as they flew to Kaguya, a series of tall buildings standing square formations next to a long steel track rising skyward, the Mass Driver. Eclipse glared at the device, knowing that something looking like nothing more than a giant rollercoaster was the reason most of Orb territory was now in ruins. She resisted the urge to spit out the side of the copter, realizing the problem wasn’t the Mass Driver, but the stupid Atlantic Federation bobbing in the ocean.

Cagalli didn’t say much during the ride, a nervous look about her and an even more scared glimmer in her eye as she wrung her fingers in her lap. Eclipse reached across the row and grabbed her hand. Cagalli turned away from the burning landscape outside to her cousin, her eyes not hiding behind her strong confidence like they normally did in front of the army. It was unnerving, to say the least. The helicopter was too loud to say anything comforting—even with headsets—so Eclipse just smiled and squeezed her hand. Cagalli squeezed back.

They arrived at Kaguya headquarters soon afterwards. Cagalli handed Eclipse her crutches as Kisaka helped her down onto the helipad. She said thank you to both of them and followed them through the halls to the command center. Kisaka stopped her at the door and looked like he was about to order her to the infirmary when an alarm went off inside. All three if them hurried into the room after that.

Cagalli and Kisaka went straight to the command table.

“What’s happening?” the princess asked.

“Radar’s picking up bogeys!” a soldier shouted, followed by another.

“Incoming missiles!”

Eclipse bit her bottom lip, hobbling into the room while trying to stay out of the way as much as possible.

“Cagalli,” Kisaka said, his tone soft as he addressed the blonde. It seemed he was thinking much the same as everyone else in the room.

“They never even responded to any of our attempts to open discussions. Bastards.” Taking a moment, Cagalli cursed again under her breath then slammed both hands down on the table. “Give the order for the mobile suits to deploy and have Murayama’s team intercept those missiles.”

“Yes, ma’am!” came the reply.

The redhead had never been on this side of the battle; the place where the orders were given. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there and watched, but the whole thing was fascinating. Kisaka and Cagalli were relaying commands, moving troops and sending support teams wherever they were needed. Cagalli looked confident again and the soldiers running the communication lines were more than happy to relay her orders. Eclipse had no idea when her cousin had even learned those skills and yet there she was, giving commands to Kisaka. _Damn,_ she thought, now thinking Cagalli really did deserve that white general’s uniform.

The next few moments were kind of a blur, even if Eclipse had been in her right mind. One of the communication soldiers left his post, running off to deliver a message personally on the other side of the base. This looked to be a normal occurrence for a selected few, but usually the next person watched their monitors or another person came and filled their spot. This time, however, no one seemed to have noticed. The soldier put his headset down on the console and ran out. Eclipse looked around the room, but saw no one looking at her and her eye caught the three Earth Forces machines fighting Kira and Athrun.

“We’re not your enemies,” Orga had said those many weeks ago and she felt herself shift to slip out of her crutches, leaning them up against the wall. They had been so worried about Namarra that day, so much so that their soldier facades had faded, showing even Eclipse that vulnerability. “We’re not your enemies,” the phrase repeated in her mind and the faces of FS and Stray popped into her mind. In the end, she might not have been able to save them from their insanity and her fists clenched at the realization. But maybe, just maybe, she could save someone else instead. Hopping over to the seat, she sat down and put on the headset.

The frequency wasn’t easy to pinpoint at first—and it took her a couple of minutes to tap into the line—but eventually she was hearing Namarra’s brothers easily enough. They didn’t say much to each other during the fight—and she could only hear snippets of their orders—but she knew she had to try and talk to them. Biting her bottom lip once more, she opened her mouth to talk, but stopped. What if her interference caused one of them to lose concentration and die? Namarra would never forgive her. Then again, she’d never forgive her if she didn’t try either.

“S-Shani, this is Eclipse. I’m a friend of Namarra’s.” She couldn’t believe what she was doing and thought herself even more insane given she was doing it in Kaguya’s command center. “I need you to—”

“What the fuck? Shani, who’s the chick?” It sounded like Clotho’s voice.

“Beats the hell outta me,” was his slow response.

“I’ve met you a couple—Orga, I was the one who saved Namarra near Carpentaria. Remember? You and I—”

“Yeah, Orga and Shani, you talk to the chick and I’ll handle these two machines.”

“Clotho, you bas—”

“Don’t think you’re doing it alone,” Shani responded, and Eclipse watched their two suits start another series of attacks against the Justice and the Freedom.

“Shani!” Orga cursed and hovered just above the water. At first, she thought he was honestly going to talk, but she saw his machine take aim and fire into the chaos. He was trying to hit the Justice’s detachable armor as it flew towards him. Every shot missed.

“Orga, you have to stop fighting and listen to reason. You’re being manipulated—”

“You’re still yapping?” came his reply, his suit aiming and firing once more. 

“The Atlantic Federation is giving you drugs to—”

“I don’t even know who the _hell_ you are, but I fight because I—”

“If you keep going, you’ll kill Namarra.”

“ _Don’t_ interrupt me, bitch, and I don’t give a _fuck_ who this Namarra is.” His suit fired again, and she heard him curse and bang on the console. Given the time and his hasty antics, Eclipse assumed he was running out of power. “You _stupid_ mobile suit!”

“It’s because you’re firing all over the place, dumbass.” That sounded like Clotho again.

“Say what?”

“If you’re gonna leave, then do it yourself. You’re on your own now. Huh?”

Eclipse stared at the screens as she watched the Justice rise out of the water and surprise Clotho, water dripping from the elbows and feet of the red suit. Athrun had combined two beam sabers and held the weapon high above his suit’s head, its hands tightening around the weapon and ready to strike down at the surprised Raider.

She gasped as she watched, her lips parting in horror. “Athrun, don’t—”

The Justice swung downward in what should have been a killing blow, but the Raider had managed to avoid major damage. Its hand weapon, the Mjolnir hammer, was sliced in two as the suit transformed and fled, the piece falling harmlessly into the water. Athrun’s suit moved as if it was going to pursue the Earth Alliance’s machine, but it seemed to second guess itself and fly in the opposite direction to help out the ground forces. Eclipse exhaled slowly, more than happy to see him find a different objective.

“Hey, _you’re_ the dumbass!” Orga yelled.

“Who d’you think you—” The Calamity crashed onto the Raider. “Who said you could get on? Freeloader!”

“Shut your mouth!”

“Guys, the EA’s just—” Eclipse tried again, but someone must have noticed her sitting at the radio because there were two hands locked onto her shoulders and pulling her backwards.

“Broken record, blah, blah—”

She broke Orga’s transmission just as she was torn from the chair, hoping no one would name her a traitor for trying to contact the Earth Alliance machines. Somehow, she didn’t think her excuse would make sense to most people. When she turned to see her captor, however, she caught a glimpse of a purple uniform and dark skin. “Kisaka,” she breathed when they locked eyes, her once guardian dragging her back to her corner, having no sympathy for her injuries.

Still clutching her shoulders, he stared at her hard, his eyebrows deepening into the closest thing to rage she had ever seen on his face. She opened her mouth to explain, but he just shoved her hard enough to make her stumble against the wall and turned back to the command table just as Cagalli spit out another order.

“Fall back! Tell all forces to retreat and gather at Kaguya! We’re abandoning Onogoro!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, happy 2021, everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that no one is too upset with returning to everyday life. I had a little extra time at the end of my holiday to churn through this. I smoothed it out a little bit, added some more descriptions and now have it out for the masses at Ao3. Enjoy! 
> 
> Eclipse has really put herself in a bind at the end of the chapter here, so we'll have to see how that turns out in the next one. 
> 
> We'll be off to space again soon and the longer chapters will continue from here on out (not sure if I mentioned that before). 
> 
> Also, I'm going to pose a question and I will keep posing it until I finish putting this up, I think. I currently have up to Chapter 12 of the second book in this series posted on Fanficiton. Originally, I was going to get Waltz up and then post in both places simultaneously. However, I'm beginning to think there isn't much interest here on Ao3, so unless anyone says otherwise, I think I'll finish Waltz here, but migrate back to and remain on FF. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? TIA.
> 
> Thanks again for stopping by to read this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. Please take care and I'll see you in the next one.
> 
> Strata


	45. One Nuke Short of a Massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final battle for Orb and the destruction of its Mass Driver.

One Nuke Short of a Massacre

“What do you think Orb’s gonna do, Revelin?” Stray asked, pouring himself a fresh cup of very weak coffee before walking over to the couch and sitting down next to his friend. The four of them—Lust included—had ventured over to the other side of the Mendel colony, housing themselves in a similar hotel than they had stayed in before. Melanie and Phoebe were currently looking for more supplies and Wrath had followed orders and made his way back to Earth. So, just like old times, it was Gluttony and Pride alone watching the world crumble around them. “I think they’re gonna pull through; they usually do.”

“They’re gonna blow themselves up,” FS replied, straight-faced. 

Stray turned to look at him and saw his eyes blink wearily and his mouth open in a bored yawn. How could he not be interested in whether or not Eclipse’s home country was destroyed? Shaking his head, he set down his coffee cup and leaned back into the cushions. Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, it had only been a couple of weeks since his religious ramble and since then he had been—well—interesting, to put it simply. Hell, Stray didn’t even think he slept anymore.

“Why do you think they’re gonna blow up?”

“Because that’s the only option they have left,” he answered with a shrug and pointed to the blonde reporter on the glitching television screen. At one point, her head disappeared altogether as a black and white strip flashed across the screen. “Pretty soon she’s gonna make the announcement that Orb forces have retreated and then soon after that—” He made the sound of an explosion, his cheeks puffing out as his hands formed the mushroom cloud in the air. “Bye, bye Orb. Bye, bye Mass Driver. Hello pissed off Federation.” He laughed after that, a small burst of sound that was nothing more than a mockery to Stray’s ears. “And then the world will officially be screwed because the Earth Forces can’t get to space and ZAFT can do whatever the hell they want.”

“About damn time,” Stray muttered, biting on a nail as he looked at his friend out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t necessarily believe in what he was saying, but after that little outburst on the other side of the satellite he had learned to speak a lot of things he really didn’t mean. He didn’t think FS would attack him of all people, but there was still that chance.

“Hah,” FS replied, pounding his fist down on the coffee table. Stray jumped and grabbed his mug before it toppled over onto the floor. “And to think we had _nothing_ to do with it. Yes, it’s about _goddamn time_!” He stormed out of the lobby then, brushing past the returning Lust twins and pushing Melanie hard against the wall. She rubbed the spot with taped fingers, Stray knowing there were no fingernails on her pinky and thumb from one of FS’s other fits.

Phoebe turned to look at Stray, her right black eye starting its brown cycle on the color wheel instead of the pretty blue and purple. They locked stares for a second before Stray looked away, unable to match the dead glimmer in her eye. 

It had been a long couple of weeks.

“Phoebe!” FS yelled from one of the side rooms and Stray felt her jump rather than saw her. Pretending to be more interested in the television broadcast, he heard Phoebe struggle out of the spacesuit and drop the supplies they had found on the lobby counter. Melanie muttered something, but Phoebe must have just brushed her off because the next thing he heard was FS from down the hall. 

“No, keep the door open.” 

Leaning forward, Stray turned up the volume on the television as Melanie started putting away the supplies. 

“The fighting has stopped!” the reporter yelled. “Orb forces are retreating!”

So far, FS had been right, but Stray could only hope Eclipse wasn’t around when the rest of his prediction came true.

* * *

Eclipse was the first one escorted from the command room, “escorted” meaning Kisaka dragged her from the corner and threw her into one of the other meeting rooms instead. A long, round table sat in the middle surrounded by about eight leather chairs. She didn’t really have time to count them all. Kisaka tossed the redhead into one and leaned down on her forearms grabbing onto the armrests, the loud slam of the door cutting off the commotion outside.

“You’d better have one _hell_ of an explanation!”

“I’m sorry—”

He pushed the chair hard back against the table, making the legs scrape against the carpet as it moved an inch or so. “ _Don’t_ mock me with some lame apology! You are in some _serious_ trouble; do you understand that?”

Eclipse opened her mouth to say yes, but nothing came out, her voice probably just as afraid of Kisaka as she was. He was pissed. It wasn’t the fatherly anger she was so used to from him, but the complete rage one adult bestowed upon another when he—or she in this case—did something unforgivable.

Like betraying the country.

She nodded when he shook the chair again, probably wanting his answer as well as her complete attention.

“You know government and military policy very well, so either I should be throwing you in prison or putting you in a mental hospital for complete lunacy!”

“I wasn’t telling them anything about our defenses. I just wanted to try and stop—”

“So, you _were_ talking to the pilots of those machines.”

“You don’t understand, I needed to—”

“ _I_ don’t understand?”

“—make them stop fighting because—”

“Hah, by talking to them—”

“—they’re being manipulated by the EA—”

“—in Orb’s military _command center_?”

“—and they’re like brothers to a friend—”

“Enough.”

“—and I _promised_ I’d—”

“I said enough!” He banged the chair back against the table again and pushed it another inch towards the window. “Your excuses are worthless and a _promise_ is nothing more than comic relief to a military jury.” Looking down, he clenched the armrests tighter, Eclipse feeling the chair shake with his anger and the bruises most likely forming on her forearms from his grip. Her breath quickened as she waited for him to start yelling again. Out of all the people in her life to be terrified of, she honestly didn’t think Kisaka would fill a slot, but there he was in the perfect position to snap her neck and probably having enough rage running through his system to do so. With her hands strapped to the chair, there was no way she could block his attack. Taking a breath, she steadied herself and waited. If something was going to happen, there was no way she was going to be afraid of it.

Kisaka took a couple deep breaths of his own, cursing quietly as he tried to calm down. To be honest, she couldn’t imagine what was running through his head. He had to worry about the troops coming into Kaguya, the next plan of action for the Orb military, not to mention the evacuees, the injured, the dead, and reloading ammo, rationing the ammo, and probably a bunch of other things concerning food and medical supplies alone. Now he had what looked like a traitor pinned to a chair and being one of the few people in the country directly related to the former Chief Representative. And that was only by blood. She was the Orb princess’s close friend and cousin as well as a former ZAFT elite.

Shit.

Finally, he backed off, his hands sticking to Eclipse’s jacket before falling back to his sides. Moving from the floor, he stared at her hard, his eyes still narrowed in anger. “I’m going to report to Lord Uzumi about this matter. You are to stay here until you receive any further orders about the situation. Do I make myself clear?” Eclipse nodded slowly. “Good. There’ll be a guard posted outside.” She nodded again and looked down to her lap, rubbing the tender areas on her forearms. She heard the older man sigh, open, and then close the door gently behind him before silence surrounded her once more.

* * *

It was nearly an hour before Kisaka came back with Lord Uzumi. Eclipse had changed positions countless times in the room and was currently sitting on the table with her feet on one of the chairs; however, that position changed the moment the door opened, the redhead leaping to her feet and saluting Kisaka as soon as he walked in. When Lord Uzumi passed through the doorway, she bowed and stayed that way until the door was closed.

“Lexi, sit down,” her uncle ordered, and she did just that.

“The colonel has given his report and I cannot express how disappointed I am with you.”

Eclipse felt her heart sink and her breath push out of her as he said those words. She had always expected it from her parents, but to hear it from the man who had treated her like a daughter was almost unbearable. A part of her wanted to break out in tears, but her body was in too deep of shock to even react.

“We accessed the communication’s database for that specific radio and have heard your conversation. While it sounded harmless,” he went on to explain, crossing his hands behind his back and looking more and more like the powerful government official every second, “we cannot ignore the fact that you contacted enemy forces while Orb was under military attack. You have hereby broken Orb’s code of military conduct and have thus committed treason against the nation. Lexi Rymyr, do you deny these accusations?”

By that time, she was shaking; she couldn’t help it. It was one thing to be naively kicked out of the military—like she had been from ZAFT—but this time she had caused her own misfortune. She closed her eyes and tried concentrating on her breathing, in the back of her mind wondering why the hell she had felt so compelled to speak to those pilots. Perhaps some part of her felt the need to save them as well; as if they were a second chance since her first chance with FS and Stray had failed so miserably. 

Taking one more breath, she finally replied into the thick silence. “No.”

“Look at me.”

She lifted her chin and locked eyes with her uncle, his brow furrowed in a firm line across his forehead. Her vision blinked in and out of focus as she stared at him, feeling too guilty to hold the look for long, but knowing she had to.

“Tell me here, to my face. Lexi Rymyr, do you deny contacting enemy forces during a military attack on the nation of Orb and hereby committing treason against that nation?”

“No, I do not deny it.”

He sighed and let his hands drop to his sides, Eclipse turning her head down and to the leather chair next to her so that she didn’t have to look him in the eye anymore. She still had to go through a trial to decide her permanent sentencing—and having a high ranking officer and the former Chief Representative hear her confession practically sealed her fate—but Lord Uzumi still had to come up with a temporary decision. Most likely she would be thrown in prison. 

His feet shuffled closer to her and she flinched, expecting her judgment to be delivered at any moment, but instead she felt his hand pat the top of her head and then follow the line of her hair to her cheek. Startled by the gesture, she looked up to see a small smile on his lips. “At this moment, I’ll refrain from passing judgment.” His smile brightened for a second, probably because of the shock on her face. “I don’t want the last thing I say to you to be about your actions. Colonel Kisaka has already submitted his report, but you’ll be in space long before anyone has time to get to the file.”

“Wait—what? Last thing? Space?” Eclipse stuttered, manually taking his hand from her cheek and holding onto it while she stood. “What’s going on?”

His smile never faltered. “Even though we both know what the final decision will be concerning this, I want you to look after Cagalli as best as you can and give her all the support your circumstances are able to. Even from afar that’ll be enough.”

“Lord Uzumi, you’re not making any sense.”

He took his hand from hers and put it on her shoulder instead. “Colonel Kisaka and your brother already know of the plan and I am about to inform the _Archangel_ crew.”

“The plan?”

He didn’t respond, his smile faltering then. Somehow it seemed sad and when she looked over at Kisaka a little bit behind him, she saw a similar sadness there. Whatever this plan was, involved a lot more than just them going to space. Suddenly, she started getting worried; scared even. “Uncle?”

“Now, don’t worry. Things will work out in then end; I want you to remember that. And I was serious about taking care of Cagalli. She is young still, rash, and a bit more impulsive than I could have ever imagined. But her head is in the right place and I have faith in her. A lot is going to be put on her shoulders soon and even though she will be facing most of it by herself, I want _you_ to be there to remind her she doesn’t have to.” It sounded like his last will or something.

“Uncle—”

“And the only thing I want you to do is stay out of trouble and start using your head, alright? You were always as impulsive as my daughter, but I felt you had a firmer grasp of things than Cagalli. This event has proven otherwise, however, you have still shown a strong sense of loyalty, no matter how the verdict ends up.” He put his other hand on her shoulder and leaned down, kissing her forehead. Eclipse tensed and blushed, not having experienced such fatherly affection since she was little. It was both strange and nice at the same time. “But enough sentimentality from an old man,” he continued. “Come, let’s speak to Captain Ramius and her crew.”

Lord Uzumi led the way out, but before they left, Kisaka and Eclipse shared a look. He wasn’t angry anymore, but it was still an unfamiliar expression to see on his face. Dread? Worry? Or maybe he was just tired? She couldn’t tell, but it put the same look on her face.

What was this plan?

* * *

They ended up back in the control room, but amazingly no one gave her any dirty looks or whispered behind her back. Either everyone was too busy to notice she had walked in, or they had missed her escapade altogether. Since Kisaka was the one to grab her, Eclipse had expected rumors to fly all over the place, but the soldiers were concentrating too hard to even notice the door opening. A part of her was happy about that, but the other part of her felt like a common criminal. She gulped and stood next to Kisaka, trying to hide next to the bigger man as best she could without looking guilty.

Cagalli walked up the stairs and joined them a second later, having still been relaying commands down below. She looked tired, but composed and Eclipse felt the need to salute as she came near. Her cousin certainly looked like a commanding officer. After nodding to Kisaka and her father, she turned to the redhead. Eclipse expected her of all people to know what had happened in the command room—and her expression definitely confirmed that—but she reached out and pulled her cousin into a hug nonetheless. Squeezing her tightly once, she let go before Eclipse even had time to register the action and return the gesture. Stepping to her right, Cagalli watched the door as some of the _Archangel_ officers walked through. 

The first one was the captain, her hair a little tossed from the last battle with her hat tucked under her left arm. She stopped in front of Lord Uzumi and saluted as the last of the trio filed in off to her right. It was Mu and another man with dark blue almost black hair who made up the other two from the _Archangel._ They each saluted and Lord Uzumi reached out to shake hands with Captain Ramius. 

“I’m happy to see you well, Captain. How fairs the _Archangel_?”

“She’s taken a lot of damage, sir, but nothing my mechanics can’t handle.”

“And the crew?”

“Tired, but still willing to hold off the Atlantic Federation. We will defend Orb until the end.”

Eclipse didn’t see her uncle’s face, but she knew he was smiling. What the captain had just said would warm any leader’s heart, no matter how grave the circumstance. Such loyalty was greatly appreciated, but Eclipse also knew her uncle wouldn’t hold the smile for long. He didn’t like anyone throwing away their lives carelessly. “I thank you and your crew for that, Captain Ramius, but there will be no need for you all to say such things. As we speak, supplies are being loaded onto our battleship, the _Kusanagi_ and I would like to ask the _Archangel_ to join it in space.”

“Leave Orb?” the captain said, clearly surprised about the statement. “Lord Uzumi, are you telling up to just run away?”

“I’m sure you’ve realized this by now, Orb is already lost. It’s only a matter of time before it falls.”

Eclipse could feel the air stop in the room, fingers slowing on the consoles closest to the conversation above. It was one thing to know it in the back of the mind, but another thing entirely to hear someone say it. And have that someone be the leader of the country.

The redhead felt Cagalli tense next she her, the blonde’s fist brushing against her jacket before she stepped out to look at Lord Uzumi. “Wh-what are you saying, father?” Eclipse didn’t like where the conversation was going either, but she put a hand on her cousin’s and pulled her back to her side to let her uncle finish.

“Our people have been evacuated. They’ll be taken care of elsewhere. From now on, _we’ll_ bear the responsibility, but even if we must leave Orb, there are some things we must _never_ give up.”

The door opened again at that moment, Kira, Athrun and Dearka all walked in. Dearka saw Eclipse first and nodded, but when the redhead turned to Athrun, he was looking at Cagalli. They must have shared a look of their own because his face tensed to worry when he looked at Eclipse. She just shook her head while Lord Uzumi continued.

“The Earth Forces’ present actions are being guided by the leader of Blue Cosmos, Murata Azrael. To make matters worse, the PLANTs are lead by someone who believes that Coordinators are a new species, for Patrick Zala rules them now.” All eyes seemed to glance at Athrun and the pilot hung his head. Eclipse’s fingers curled into a fist when she saw his expression: pain.

“The way things are developing,” Lord Uzumi explained, “the world will be trapped between two forces who refuse to accept each other’s existence. Is this the future you want to see?” He looked at each of them in turn and this time Eclipse didn’t turn away from his stare. “If you desire a different world, take this small light of hope we have kindled and use it to set a course for a new future. It means a hard road ahead, but I’m sure you understand why it’s necessary, Murrue Ramius.”

“That light may be small, but it burns brightly. We believe in it as well.”

Eclipse looked at the captain then, seeing the pure determination on her face. There was little hesitation when she gave Lord Uzumi her answer and the redhead could feel her admiration for the _Archangel_ captain growing as she watched her. Eclipse had such resentment for the ship and her crew for so long, but now that feeling was slowly changing. Looking over at Kira, she felt a small bit of hatred and when he matched her stare, she felt the anger build, but it never quite reached to the point of homicidal rage. He looked away first and followed the others out of the room after Lord Uzumi had dismissed them. Kisaka walked down the stairs and back to the command table while Cagalli still stood frozen in her spot. Lord Uzumi walked over to the two of them and put a hand on each of their heads, his smile now gone. It took Eclipse another second, but she finally figured out what the great plan was once she felt his fingers rest on her head. 

He was going to die.

Eclipse had only seen one other person with the same expression and that was back at Januarias 4. He was someone she had been torturing for information, but she had never understood the look he had given her until her uncle had shown her a similar expression. Just like the man she had tortured, Lord Uzumi had resigned himself to death; had accepted his fate. Seeing it on the man back in Januarias 4 had meant nothing, but now looking at the emotion on her beloved uncle’s face, Eclipse felt her heart twist. 

“Now I get it,” she whispered. He smiled sadly at her words and she felt a tear form in her right eye and fall to her chin. Looking down—even though she knew he had seen—she said, “Thank you” and “Goodbye” before hurrying out the door, the warmth of his hand on her head fading away as she ran down the hallway.

* * *

Eclipse didn’t want to see her parents.

For the first time in her life, a part of her didn’t want to leave Orb and her uncle, but there was just nothing more she could do. And having her parents magically want to talk to her now of all times was less than comforting. 

“Lexi, you never came over to talk to us after we sent you so many invitations,” her mother said, crossing her legs as she fixed her skirt. They were in one of the conversation rooms just outside the hangar with two green couches, a coffee table, and that was about it. Her parents were dressed in Orb governmental attire, the first time Eclipse had seen them in the uniforms since their ceremonial entrance into their line of work when she was little. Her father wore the white Orb military uniform of a high-ranking officer, but the metals at his breast displayed far more battle experience than Eclipse knew for him to have. Even her mother was wearing a blazer similar to her father’s but there was no insignia, and a white skirt finished the ensemble, different from the typical trousers Eclipse and Cagalli often wore.

Eclipse sat across from them, as far back in the sofa as she could get, her arms resting in her lap and her crutches leaning off to her right. “I didn’t think I needed an invitation to go to my own house.”

“We didn’t either, but apparently nothing was working,” her father added, sounding bitter.

“So here you are,” the redhead responded, just as grouchy. If they were going to give her attitude, she would become just as much of a toddler. They were the ones wasting her time, after all. She was supposed to take off to space with Lathan and Namarra while watching someone who really acted like her father die. This conversation was not something she needed to involve herself in when the Earth Forces could attack again at any moment.

“We came to tell you we’re sorry and we understand why you did everything you did,” her mother said and Eclipse nearly stopped breathing, the redhead’s attention slowly moving from her grumpy father to her poised mother’s face. Had they just said what she thought they had? She watched her mother’s mouth and eyes but saw no kind of nervous movement. She looked at her nose then and still saw nothing, but when she turned her attention to the hoop earrings, her mother’s left hand came up to fiddle with it. Her excitement level dropped dramatically.

“You’re lying. Why the _hell_ would you lie to me now at all times? Do you realize I’m in one of those fighting machines trying to protect _your_ asses?”

“Lexi, we’re _trying_ to understand,” her father answered, his hand waving out in front of him in frustration. That was another one of his tells and Eclipse’s scowl deepened. Yes, like that was going to make things better.

“Geez, guys. Even that’s a lie. You do realize, right, that Orb is trying to fight for its ideals.”

“They never even gave them a chance—”

“Mom, you’re kidding!” Eclipse hissed, cutting off the older woman. “The Atlantic Federation turned away every chance of communication we gave them.”

“Then give them more,” she replied.

“Oh, _come_ on!”

“Lexi, you have to understand, if we were in charge, this would _never_ have gotten to be a bloody battle. Orb would still be standing and its citizens safe in their homes.”

“And the country safely under the Earth Forces dictatorship, right Dad? And what’s all this about being in charge of Orb? I take it that didn’t go over too well with the rest of the council because here you are instead, not willing to go down with your ideals!”

“Honey, someone has to stay behind and rebuild the country,” her mother explained, putting a hand on her husband’s shoulder and pulling him back further in his seat on the couch. Eclipse had begun leaning forward as well so it was practically a shouting match between the two, the coffee table not being much of a barrier between them. “Us, my brother-in-law and the Seirans are in charge of keeping this country safe after they’re all gone.”

Eclipse narrowed her eyes, her hands tensing into fists still in her lap. “And you can say that with a straight face? Members of the Athhas—members of _your_ family are going to sacrifice themselves for this country and you don’t even care?”

"How can you say that? I have nothing but complete love for this family!” her mother yelled in response, her inflection displaying the cool reserve on her face.

“But you bumped heads with them too much, huh? Never thought the same way about Orb politics and now that they’re going to be out of the picture, you can finally build the kind of empire you want. Yes, such love.”

 _Slap_.

Eclipse had only been slapped in the face a couple times in her young life. Lately, she had been punched because hand-to-hand required a little more force than what a simple slap could involve, but she had never forgotten the stinging feeling on her face long after the hand had recoiled back to its owner. Her parents had a no-hitting policy and why, at that moment, he had chosen to break his own law should have put Eclipse far more on edge than it had. Instead, she stared down at the carpet for a second to recover before slowly turning her attention back to her parents. Her eyes narrowed very dangerously. 

“Don’t you _ever_ say such nonsense to your mother,” her father spat, all but verbally announcing he had been the one to hit his daughter. He shook his hand off to the side, trying to get rid of the sting on his end. “Who are you, some fighting buffoon? What do you know about politics?”

After the last conversation she had had with her parents that comment didn’t hurt as much as it was probably intended, but she still felt something. Pity?

“Maybe a buffoon, but I’m fighting for what this country _really_ believes in,” Eclipse spat.

“Is that why you betrayed it?”

The redhead’s whole body went stiff the second those words came out of her mother’s mouth. The blood just drained from her cheeks, and most likely from her whole body given how faint she felt. She knew her parents were going to find out eventually, but she never thought she would be there to confront them directly. It was always distant messages with them, so she thought this instance was going to be the same. Oh, how she wished it was the same. 

“This country wants peace between Naturals and Coordinators and that is all it’s ever wanted,” her mother continued. “It fights now to uphold those ideals because if they agree to side with the Atlantic Federation, they’ll be viewed as an enemy of ZAFT. And if they don’t agree to side with the Naturals, the Federation and others will view us as allies to the Coordinators. Really, all we want is to be neutral and live in peace. _That_ is what Orb is, Lexi. Your father and I both know that and after your little—I don’t know what it was—I’m wondering if you really understand that. _Really_ understand what it means for my brother-in-law to die.”

Eclipse didn’t know what to say; hell, she didn’t even know how to react. Her parents were right. What she had done had affected more than just her alliance with Namarra, but of course it took some parental whipping to smash it into her head. Maybe she had to find some kind of happy medium between taking orders and making them for herself because where she was at now neither helped _her_ nor those around her.

Her parents left soon afterwards, saying a quick goodbye and even wishing her some luck. There was no hug, no “I love you,” or any kind of last wishes before they sent her off to the battle in space. They might never see each other again and the only thing they could do was give a half-hearted wave. Then again, maybe they _had_ done something. They opened her eyes, even if only for a little bit.

Perhaps her stay in Orb wasn’t meaningless after all.

* * *

“ _Regean_ loading complete. Decay and Stealth secured in the hangar, supplies locked in place. All lights are green,” Lathan said, flipping some switches above his head as he glanced out at the catwalk below.

“I read you, _Regean_ ,” came the reply over the radio. “You are to launch before the main body of the _Kusanagi_ than link up with it in space.”

“Roger that.”

“Ready when you are.”

“Just waiting on one passenger,” Lathan replied, side glancing over at Namarra buckled in the seat kitty-corner to his. She had recently come out of her anesthesia and was still a bit groggy, but she was still coherent enough to know Eclipse had better get to the transport and fast. The two of them wore orange jackets and black trousers, opting for comfort instead of prestige and Lathan pulled nervously on his right cuff as he turned back to the consoles, checking the catwalk again and trying to get a glimpse of Lexi’s white uniform. His parents usually had really bad timing, but pulling Eclipse aside and wanting to talk to her _seconds_ before launch was a new low even for them. He tapped impatiently on the armrest, squinting at one of the screens when he saw Eclipse’s crutches reach around the corner into the docking hangar. He sat up straighter and stared, seeing his sister coming as quickly as she could towards the transport. Relieved, he pulled the seatbelts down over his head and locked them tight, waiting for Eclipse to get on and they could take off. Only a few minutes behind. Not too bad.

“You’re late!” he yelled when she wedged her crutches under her seat and sat down in the co-pilot’s chair next to Lathan. 

“Blame the parentals.”

“Blamed. Now, let’s get the hell outta here before they decide to have a heartfelt talk with me.” After one last conversation with traffic control, he flipped some more switches and they were off.

Being the first ones to leave Orb, they were well into the atmosphere when they saw the mass driver explode on their camera feed. It looked like a domino effect of explosions, destroying the track and following closely behind the _Kusanagi_ ’s main transport. None of them could make out a lot of detail, but they all knew very well what had happened down below. Namarra screamed out, “Orga! Shani! Clotho!” before sinking back into her seat in frustrated defeat. They were all confident the three pilots had survived, but it was still nerve racking to think about. Eclipse turned her head away from the explosion and stared at her hands, feeling her body weight shifting from nearly double—thanks to the Gs she experienced during the ascent—to weightless. Lathan cursed loudly and turned one of the buttons until it clicked, quieting and then finally stopping the white noise on the radio.

* * *

“ _Regean_ section making final adjustments.” Lathan reached in front of him and punched a sequence into the main console. “Docking complete with _Kusanagi_. Air pressurizing. Opening up connecting bridges in 10…9…8…7…”

Eclipse stared blankly at her brother as he finished the countdown, her head buzzing with shock more than with careful concentration. She could have been helping him with the docking, but after seeing the explosion, she couldn’t think or do much of anything. Yes, she had known what her uncle and some of the other council members were going to do, but watching it with her own eyes just made her nauseous. Lathan had been calm throughout the whole ordeal, then again he was a bit better at burying himself in work and ignoring the emotional side of his brain. In that aspect, she envied him. There was a place she could run to as well, but somehow asking the Berserker to take over at a time like this wouldn’t help matters.

“Air pressurizing complete. Section sealed. Commencing with oxygen fill.”

Namarra had been just as silent as she sat behind Eclipse. The redhead knew better than to try talking to her, so she didn’t pry. It was amazing they had even gotten her to sit still as they took off. No doubt the confirmation that the Orb forces were merely leaving and not engaging the enemy had helped her keep the seatbelt on. 

“Docking complete. _Kusanagi_ , Lexi’s coming to the main living quarters.”

“Roger that, _Regean_. It’s safe,” came the reply.

Eclipse was up and out of her seat before Lathan could give her the final confirmation. Pulling on the back of her seat, she propelled herself towards the door—past Namarra’s suspicious stare—pressed the release button, and was floating through the hangar on the way to the connecting hallway. Eclipse’s only thought was to see Cagalli. If the explosion had hit her hard, she couldn’t even imagine how much of an effect it would have had on her cousin. She cursed just thinking about it. Grabbing the handle on the side of the wall, she followed the hallway down to the corner and then turned left to grab the next handle and go down to the living quarters. 

She wasn’t entirely sure which one was Cagalli’s room, but when she rounded the corner, Kisaka was standing guard next to one of the doors. Eclipse stopped at that room, locking eyes with the colonel before going in. The two of them stared at each other, the older man’s glance a little less frightening than it had been a couple hours earlier. Given what had happened within the past hour, she couldn’t be surprised, but it was sad to know the look hadn’t softened because he had forgiven her. It was mainly because of the tragedy he had just witnessed.

“Cagalli?” Eclipse asked, and Kisaka pointed behind him to the room. She nodded and he turned to head back to the bridge.

She watched him for a sad moment before knocking on the door and then opening it when she heard a soft sob from inside. “Cags?” Cagalli was sitting on her bed, clutching what looked like a photograph between shaking hands. Eclipse had no idea what was on that picture, but it didn’t matter when she saw her face. Pale didn’t even seem to give justice to what was printed across her cheeks and watching the dead stare in her eyes confirmed that she was still in the same stage of grieving as Eclipse.

Shock.

“Cags?” she asked again and pushed herself off the doorframe and over to the bed. Stabilizing herself on the bedpost, she sat herself down on the sheets and curled her legs up and under the mattress to hold herself steady. When she was confident she wouldn’t float away, the redhead put a hand on her cousin’s. “Cagalli.” The sternness in her tone that time must have finally gotten her attention because she jumped slightly and whipped her head around to see Eclipse.

“L-Lexi?”

Eclipse nodded and squeezed her hand. She thought about offering a small smile, but they both would have known it was fake.

“S-space? Are we in space?”

Eclipse nodded again and felt her heart twist. Cagalli was just trying to be strong and not show her true emotions. Her cousin had been known to act strong and put on a straight face whenever something bothered her, but to show that kind of strength in front of Eclipse was rare. 

“E-everyone got here safely?” She stared back down at the photo in her hands.

“Cagalli, please.”

“The _Archangel_ made it too?”

“Hey—”

“Athrun and K-Kira?”

“Yes, Cags, everyone’s—”

“And your brother? Well, you’re here so I guess that means he’s here too. That’s good because I don’t know what would happen if—”

“Stop, you’re rambling.”

“And if you’re here that means the _Kusanagi_ ’s done docking—”

“Hey!” Eclipse shouted that time, shaking Cagalli’s hand back and forth in order to get her full attention. It might have been a bit much considering the circumstances, but the blonde had to snap out of the stupor. If anything, it wasn’t healthy.

Cagalli finally turned back to her again, her cheeks gradually growing red as her eyes started getting their glossy finish. She gasped once, a short little burst of sound that sounded more like a small sob. It was followed by another, then another, until two tears streaked down her flushed face. “He stayed behind.”

“I know.”

“He just _pushed_ me on the shuttle and I couldn’t—I couldn’t do anything!”

“I’m so sorry, Cags.”

“I said—I didn’t say—” She started crying then, turning away from her and back at the photo in her hands. “He gave me this—it’s so stupid—I can’t believe—why—” She stopped, clutching the picture so hard in her hands Eclipse saw the sides crinkle with the force. The redhead reached over and took it from her before she could ruin it entirely and most likely regret it. She slipped it into the crack under a mounted lamp on the side table, not taking the time to examine it since Cagalli’s body was starting to shake again from her sobs. Reaching over, Eclipse put on arm across her shoulders and the other across her front, pulling her down into an embrace.

“Why did this happen?” she screamed, and Eclipse rubbed her back while she rocked her. After all of her training, everything she went through with Commander Waltfeld, Aisha, and Nicol, there was nothing she could say. Giving the default answer of, “Everything will be alright,” seemed like a smack in the face.

“What do I do now? He’s gone, Lexi! He’s gone!”

She tried shushing her and was in the middle of saying, “I know,” again when the door opened. Kira stood there with his hand on the doorframe. He looked a little out of breath and his face flushed from the small skirmish he had been in on Earth. No doubt witnessing Orb’s destruction made him feel a bit panicked as well. “Cagalli?” he breathed, pushing his way into the room to steady himself on the table in front of the bed.

Eclipse just stared at him, knowing he would answer his own question merely by looking at the girl grieving in her arms. Athrun came to the door next, never breaching the threshold and coming into the room, but his face held a sadness she had not seen there in quite a while. Her breath caught in her throat and a tear finally fell down her cheek as she looked at him. He must have seen the tear because he made a movement to come closer, but Eclipse turned away, hiding her face in Cagalli’s hair. It would do no good if both of them were crying.

It took a couple more minutes, but eventually Cagalli calmed down enough to sit up on her own. Most likely, she knew the guys were in the room with them, but she refused to look up from the hands now clenched in her lap. Eclipse was certain she felt embarrassed and the redhead probably should have sent the pilots away when she had the chance, but she didn’t trust her own voice, let alone able make real eye contact with either of them without wanting to cry herself. So, the two girls sat there in silence as Athrun and Kira looked on. 

Damn, Eclipse really didn’t want to be there anymore.

“Lexi,” Cagalli began, withholding a sob, “thank you for everything, but,” she held back another cry, “I’d like to talk to Kira right now if that’s okay.”

“Of course,” Eclipse replied, squeezing the blonde’s hand before she loosened her grip on the bed and pushed herself over towards Athrun at the door. The ZAFT elite steadied her as she came near, helping her get her feet on the ground. She muttered a thank you and reached around him to grab a handle on the wall. At first, she thought he was going to follow her, but heard Kira say his name and figured he would be staying as well. Remembering Cagalli’s jealously back on Earth, the redhead shouldn’t have been surprised if she had wanted Athrun there too, but she couldn’t help feeling lonely as she left the three of them behind. She couldn’t blame her cousin since she was also close to them, but, somehow, she was secretly hoping to talk to Athrun at least. 

Call it a want for a familiar face. 

Returning to the _Reagan_ without any confrontation, she stopped at the railing and stared across at the Decay and Stealth standing silently. It almost hurt how quiet the room was and she found herself reaching up to her earpiece. “Coffee Addict, status.”

No reply.

“Coffee Addict, go online. What’s your status?”

Still no reply and she smacked her palm down against the metal railing. She wasn’t really expecting a reply, but somehow talking to her suit at that moment would have made her feel so much better. Just the cold and direct response to her question would have been the perfect distraction, and yet there was no voice on the other end.

“Coffee Addict, _please_ reply. You _have_ to reply!”

“I don’t think talking to a brainless machine is going to make you feel any better,” Namarra remarked, steadying herself on the railing next to her. She looked healthier than when they had first started their journey into space, but her face was still pale from everything she had gone through in the past couple of days. No doubt knowing she left her brothers back on Earth didn’t make her feel any better.

“Apparently, you underestimate my sanity.”

"No, I know your sanity fairly well, actually. On the bridge between ‘keep and eye on her’ and ‘give me the strait jacket,’ right?”

Eclipse smiled; she couldn’t help it. Everybody seemed to be trying to cheer her up lately and it just didn’t feel right. Perhaps it was about time she put her mind back on work. After all, the Stealth wasn’t about to fix itself and with no gravity she didn’t have to rely so much on her legs. They could heal and she could still get some work done.

“Thank you,” Namarra muttered after a few moments, forcing the words through partly closed lips. The phrase was so quiet and so abrupt Eclipse almost didn’t hear it. 

“For what?”

“If I have to say what for I shouldn’t even be thanking you.”

“I just want to hear you say it.”

“Don’t you know you’re _not_ supposed to bait a piranha?”

Eclipse shrugged. “I’ve never been much of a fish lover.” Namarra rolled her eyes and the redhead smiled, patting her shoulder lightly. “No problem. Just know I’ll probably be exiled because of it.”

“Now, isn’t that the icing on the cake?”

“What, food analogies now?”

Namarra shrugged that time and smirked, turning her attention back to the two mobile suits in the hangar.

“What d’ya say we put our depression to good use?” Eclipse began, figuring the Natural was having similar thoughts. “How about we work on our dying machines?”

“Depression?” she scoffed. “Speak for yourself.”

“Your mental state is too close to mine to be fooling me. C’mon, with no gravity we can actually move around rather painlessly. Let’s numb our brains with stress.”

“You’re good at this avoidance thing. I wonder if I should be concerned.”

“You can if you want to be, but I wouldn’t recommend adding yourself to the list of people already worrying about me. It’s not worth it, really.”

“Oh, good because I was kidding. I really don’t give a damn about you.” The Natural smirked after the comment and Eclipse returned the look. They had a funny kind of relationship, but somehow it was refreshing to know they could be friends and yet not have to talk about the heavy emotional stuff. At least until they got comfortable enough with each other to bitch about it and not fear for their lives simply because they were annoying.

Pushing themselves away from the railing, they both headed towards their respective suits, taking in the damage as they moved closer. Each of them sighed after a moment, knowing there was definitely a lot that needed to be done. It was a good thing neither of them knew what to do at that time—with SIN-ED or with the Earth Forces—because it might have been a real problem if they needed their suits within the next week.

“Oh, I have been meaning to ask you,” Eclipse began, steadying herself on the side of the Stealth. “What was that song you were singing after our fight? Did you write it?” Namarra turned to her and gave her an interesting look, on the fence between angry and intrigued. “Too personal?”

“No, it just gives me an idea. Can you sing?”

“Can I what?”

* * *

It was just a meeting between the surviving ships on the _Kusanagi_ bridge but for some reason, Eclipse felt like sticking her head under the foot of her Stealth and telling Coffee Addict to step. “It’s a good thing the CA’s offline, I guess,” she muttered, tightening her grip on Namarra’s wrist and pulling her onto the bridge right behind her. If Eclipse was going to suffer through an uncomfortable conversation with awkward stares and nervous smiles, then she sure as hell wasn’t going to be doing it alone. The phrase, “kicking and screaming,” gave no justice to the kind of abuse the redhead received from her Natural counterpart, but Namarra had to go see everyone if she wanted to save her brothers. Eclipse wasn’t going to step on that landmine alone and it just seemed more convincing when Namarra asked for help than when the redhead did. Maybe it was the Natural’s childlike complexion. Either that or her threats just scared people into submission.

She was betting on the latter.

The elevator door shut right behind them and they instantly felt all stares move in their direction. The bridge was empty for the most part, the two bucket seats—normally commandeered by two communication specialists—were empty and there were a limited amount of Orb soldiers on the front consoles and even below them in the weapons command. Kisaka stood next to the captain’s seat, one hand on the headrest as he spoke to Murrue and the new pilot of the Strike, Mu. Athrun and Kira were standing near them and Cagalli joined the crew a couple moments later when she walked from the elevator soon after the girls had. Not wanting to get any more unwanted attention, Eclipse and Namarra stood behind them all, leaning back against the consoles.

“Is that Athrun Zala? The Chairman’s son?” Namarra asked, being as quiet as she could. Eclipse nodded and the Natural sighed. “I’m fighting along side my Berserker counterpart, _on_ an Orb ship, _against_ my teammates, and _with_ the PLANTs’ Chairman’s son?”

“Life’s messed up, isn’t it?”

“It’s an S-class cluster fuck,” she replied, that phrase loud enough for the rest of the bridge members to hear. They all turned to them. Eclipse blinked innocently while Namarra smiled and waved. “I _love_ being here.” Athrun and Mu covered up amused smiles. Murrue gave Mu a stern look and he cleared his throat as the conversation started up once more.

“We’re going to the L4 Colony Cluster,” Kisaka explained, pulling everyone away from the two in the back of the room.

“The L4 Colony Group?” Murrue asked, looking stunned by the decision.

“Neither the _Kusanagi_ nor the _Archangel_ will have to worry about resupplying for a while, but that doesn’t mean the supplies will last indefinitely,” Kisaka continued. “Water, in part, will become a problem fairly soon. The group of colonies at L4 were damaged and abandoned after the war began. They’ll be uninhabited, but useful for water resources.”

“This sounds awfully familiar,” Murrue muttered, her face contorting into a solemn worry. With a look like that on her fair face, Eclipse wasn’t sure she really wanted to know what had happened to them and the ship in the past. She tried to remember back when her team was chasing the _Archangel_ and found herself only seeing small clips, the whole escapade itself nothing but a list of emotions instead of visual memories. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get those pictures back, but just found she got more confused looks from Namarra and Athrun than any kind of clarity. Offering a small smile, she waved them off, deciding to worry about her waning memories another time.

“It’ll be alright. This is different from Junias 7,” Mu assured.

“Y’know,” Athrun began, holding out his hand to Eclipse as if wanting her to pipe into the conversation. “I’m pretty sure there are some functioning colonies at L4. ZAFT investigated the area,” he pointed back at Eclipse again, “after receiving reports of a suspicious group being held up there. However, this was a long time ago. Although no one really lives there anymore, some of the colonies still have functioning facilities.”

“Some areas have power,” Eclipse confirmed. “I was on one investigation team and can confirm there is still oxygen and electricity in certain areas of the colony group. I was only assigned to the group heading into Mendel, but I’d assume the rest of the colonies were just as functional.”

“Mendel, you said?” Kira asked and Eclipse nodded slowly. “That sounds perfect for us.”

Eclipse turned to Namarra when she lightly hit her shoulder. The Natural mouthed SIN-ED and cocked an eyebrow, prodding another nod from the redhead. “Yeah, that’s where I met them again for the first time.”

“There is one thing, are _you_ okay with this?” Mu asked and Eclipse turned back to the blond, thinking he was talking to her, but when she saw him staring hard at Athrun, she could only cringe. “And not just you, this question is for that other guy from _ZAFT_ as well.”

“Commander,” Murrue started and put a hand on his arm. He brushed the touch away, but she didn’t prod, probably figuring he knew what he was getting himself into.

“I saw you fight at Orb and your actions spoke for themselves.” Mu nodded after that comment, probably commending them for their hard work instead of trying to condemn them, but he needed answers. Eclipse couldn’t really blame him, especially knowing who they would probably be facing next. “But I can’t help noticing the uniforms you’re still wearing. Depending on what happens, I think the odds are pretty good that we’ll be fighting against ZAFT forces. It won’t be like Orb at all. Are you ready? _Really_ ready? I mean, you _are_ Patrick Zala’s son after all.”

That accusation even sounded harsh to Eclipse, but she understood where the commander was coming from. Surprisingly, Cagalli seemed to be the most agitated by the comment, making a small snarl leave her lips. Eclipse could see it better than hear it, but no doubt it was there. “Why should it matter to you whose son he is? Athrun is his—”

“For a soldier to desert his army is a much more serious matter than _you_ seem to think.” Cagalli visibly backed off when Mu targeted her directly. “And not only that, imagine if your father was the _leader_ of that nation as well. You can’t fight in a war unless you _believe_ in the cause your side is fighting for. Things aren’t so simple when you turn that belief on its head. Unlike Kira, he’s a regular soldier of the ZAFT military.” Eclipse felt the room go quiet as everyone turned back to Athrun. The redhead couldn’t see his face, but watching the calm and curious expressions of the others in the room, no doubt he was feeling a bit uneasy. 

“I’d hate to force the issue, but _can_ I count on you if we fight together?” Mu continued, but there was still no response. “Well? Can I?”

Eclipse wanted to answer for him, feeling a bit too defensive of her comrade and when Namarra tensed beside her as well, the redhead figured they were both just channeling their own discomfort. No doubt they would be interrogated next.

It took another moment or two, but Athrun finally responded. “While I was at Orb—no, even before then in the PLANTs and on Earth, I thought about what is right and what is wrong. What am I understanding and what am I not? I don’t have the answers to these basic questions yet, but it’s clear to me now that all of you people share the same hopes for this world that I do.” He took a breath to calm himself before continuing. “And that’s how I feel right now.”

“Hm, you sound like a pretty determined fellow, nothing like our Kira here,” the new Strike pilot commented, a small smirk on his lips. He was happy with the answer and probably even happier about how in control Athrun was of his thoughts and emotions. Eclipse smirked as well, a bit proud of her comrade, but childishly enjoying the retort made against Kira.

As expected, Mu turned to them next, the silent ones leaning in the background. “And what about you two? I saw you both fighting against the Earth Forces, but forgive me if I’m still suspicious.”

It took a moment before either of them responded, trying to come up with some kind of answer without sounded like—well, total asses. “I won’t lie when I tell you we have our own agendas,” Eclipse spoke up, Namarra letting her take the lead. “I still have unfinished business here in space.” She held up a hand before anyone could interrupt. “I can take care of my own suit’s repairs, but there _is_ certain equipment the _Regean_ doesn’t have. If I may, Colonel,” she turned to Kisaka, “I’d like to use the _Kusanagi_ ’s equipment in the hangar to fix my suit.”

Kisaka’s stare narrowed, thinking over the request, but not showing much approval. “No, I can’t let you, I’m sorry.” Eclipse wasn’t surprised, but the rest of the bridge was. Even Namarra cocked an eyebrow.

“Cagalli, you can override me if you wish,” Kisaka continued, turning to the Orb princess.

Blinking away her initial surprise, Cagalli looked at the Orb officer for a brief moment, ultimately, nodding her head. “I respect your decision as captain of this ship, but I must ask you to explain your decision to me later on.”

“Of course, Princess.”

“You can use our equipment if you wish,” Murrue said, breaking the tension. “I beg your pardon, Colonel, and I don’t mean to show any kind of disrespect, but I believe Miss Rymyr to be a valuable ally.”

Kisaka nodded, affirming no harm had been done and Namarra spoke up in a “what about me?” kind of manner. “Am I allowed access as well?” Surprised by the blunt remark, it took Murrue a moment but eventually she agreed.

“I’ll take full responsibility if anything should go wrong.”

“Hey!” the Natural shouted, but Eclipse’s knowing look kept her from complaining any more.

“On one condition,” Mu countered. “You have to tell us something of your ‘agendas.’ If it could possibly affect our welfare, we have the right to know.”

“Fair enough,” Eclipse replied, side glancing at Namarra. She looked just as annoyed, but probably knew it was a fair exchange. “There is a renegade group I am chasing and I believe they are here in space. I don’t think you will ever come in contact with them, but I will inform you if they become a threat to you or your crew.”

“Are they dangerous? Can you tell us _why_ you are chasing them?” Mu went on.

“I don’t owe you anymore information, but I will tell you, yes, they are very dangerous.” Eclipse half expected Mu to get offended by the remark, but he just nodded, clearly a man worthy of his rank if he knew when to pry and when to leave well enough alone. “If you need me to protect this ship or anyone in this strange alliance we have formed, I will, but know I do have other priorities.” That seemed to be good enough for them, for now.

“And you?” All eyes shifted to Namarra who gave an uncharacteristic gulp, but still managed to plow forward with a confidence Eclipse wasn’t sure she knew she could ever possess.

“My only purpose here is to save the lives of my brothers in those three Atlantic Federation machines.” That statement came as even more of a shock, probably because it affected them personally, but Namarra’s look alone confirmed she wasn’t going to back down.

“Can I ask you why you want to protect them?” Kira asked, his tone sounding like he meant no offense, but his choice of wording suggested he was mocking her.

“Did I not say they were my brothers? Isn’t that reason enough?”

“But we cannot guarantee anything,” Cagalli said, jumping right back into her commanding role. “If they attack us, we _will_ defend ourselves.”

“And I would expect nothing less. You wanted my reason for joining and I told you. What happens now is entirely up to you.”

The _Archangel_ crew members still seemed nervous, but the Orb soldiers seemed comfortable, probably used to keeping their neutral position. Namarra’s voice sounded sure, but her body seemed to fail that confidence. Eclipse could tell she was worried, even if the Natural would never admit it. It was a big task to undertake and an even scarier one since she most likely knew the combined strength of the people in the room.

“You’re sure?” Mu asked and Eclipse could feel the air around Namarra tense. No doubt she was sick of answering that question.

“I intend on giving her my full support,” the redhead announced, relieving some of the tension before Namarra could give a snippy remark. “We don’t expect you to understand, merely respect it.”

“And you’re aware of the possible consequences?” Murrue asked. The girls nodded. “And do I have your word you will _not_ hold any of us personally responsible if worse comes to worse?”

Knowing how close Namarra was to the three pilots, the redhead found herself terrified. What could Namarra say other than yes? Finally, she responded, the first part of the answer being the calmest thing Eclipse had ever heard from her. The last part was the typical Namarra. “I will try, but I can’t promise much. Truthfully, I’ll probably fry that person with my flame thrower, and I’ll use the middle finger just for the hell of it.”

Eclipse sighed and jumped in before her rash reply could cause any problems. “We’ve all lost loved ones so I’m sure you can understand her honesty. I know we’ve put ourselves in quite the predicament, but this is the only way we can think of to save them.”

“There’s nothing else?” Mu asked, his face now looking concerned. It was nice to know they sympathized with Namarra’s “agenda” but just by seeing their expressions, the likelihood of a positive outcome seemed bleak.

Namarra shrugged and shook her head at the same time. “If they die, all I can tell you is I might not be able to control myself.”

“What does that mean?” Kira asked.

“I’ll help best I can,” Eclipse interrupted, not answering any questions—and probably adding more confusion to the mix—but at least it stopped any kind of retaliation her comrade might have been thinking against Kira. She was already one nuke short of a massacre and that pilot—no matter how harmless his questions seemed—was slowly moving her finger towards that big red button.

No one asked any questions after that and Eclipse was more than thankful. Apparently, Athrun had been staring at her quizzically the entire time. She tried to make out what expression was on his face, but all she could tell was he had noticed something. Very unlike the Athrun she remembered.

“It’s quite an obligation that Orb’s entrusted to us,” Mu said, getting back to the original conversation. “It’s a _huge_ task.”

“It is,” Murrue agreed, putting another hand on Mu’s arm as he continued. 

“And we’re only _two_ ships. Honestly, what we’re tryin’ to do may well be impossible.”

“You’re right,” the _Archangel_ captain said.

“And you’re still sure about this?” Mu looked back at the three people he had just talked to, Athrun, Eclipse, and Namarra. Athrun nodded while the other two just shrugged. The new Strike pilot sighed, but Eclipse figured he had taken that as a positive response. There was another thing she noticed, though, something that threw her a little off balance.

Cagalli blushed.

She wasn’t sure why her cousin flushed, only that the person she had just made eye contact with was Athrun. The redhead sighed, her mind spiraling in different directions as the rest of the conversation flittered away from her. She tuned in when Kira said, “She’s Athrun’s fiancé,” but really had no idea why they were talking about Lacus Clyne. 

_Probably has something to do with the cause,_ she guessed, remembering the work the Clyne Faction was doing. 

“They’re hunting for her right now,” Athrun explained, his mouth twisting into a scowl. “She was declared a traitor by my _father_.”

“It sucks to have family sometimes,” Eclipse muttered, only loud enough for Namarra to hear.

“I beg to differ, but then again, what do I know,” the Natural responded and left the bridge in a hurry. Eclipse could only speculate what she had meant. 

_One catastrophe at a time,_ she thought, glancing at the people in the room before leaving the bridge as well. They were all so powerful in their own right. How the hell were they going to save Namarra’s brothers if no one wanted to speak to them?

“I guess, in the end, we’re masochists, plain and simple. Heh, I should probably go back to my bunk and pray my suicide is quick and painless.”

* * *

Eclipse didn’t have much time to relax like she had originally hoped. She had been followed to the _Regean_ hangar and was about to start some initial adjustments to her suit when her stalker—well, cousin—asked if they could talk instead. Cagalli looked worried about something and more than a little confused. Given what had just happened to her, the expression wasn’t surprising, but Eclipse wasn’t sure she could handle anymore drama even if it was from family. 

“Are you okay?” Eclipse asked, the two of them near the Stealth. The redhead was sitting in the cockpit while Cagalli braced herself on the frame outside. They had been silent for the past couple of minutes and it was getting awkward for both of them.

“A lot’s happened,” the blonde began.

“I know.”

“Well, most of it you know. The other half is—uh—complicated.”

“Cagalli, you know you can talk to me.”

The blonde sighed and nodded slowly, turning to the side in order to pull out a picture, the same one Eclipse recognized from Cagalli’s fingers the moment she had come to comfort her. The redhead hadn’t gotten a good view of it before, but she stared at it then, her eyebrows furling as she examined it. In the photo was a woman in a hospital gown with brown hair and purple eyes holding two babies, one with blonde hair and the other with similar brown hair to hers. Both babies were sleeping and the mother—at least she assumed she was the mother—looked more than a little exhausted from labor, but happy all the same. Eclipse’s eyes scanned the sides of the picture looking for a trace of anyone else—a hand or strand of hair—but saw none.

“What is this?” she finally asked, Cagalli being patient enough to give the redhead a few moments to digest what she was looking at.

“According to my father, I’m the blonde baby and the brown-haired baby is my twin brother.”

“You? Twin?”

She nodded, putting two fingers on the photo and flipping it around for Eclipse. “Apparently, I’ve been living a lie.”

Eclipse followed her pointer finger down to two names scribbled sloppily on the bottom. The name “Cagalli” could be made out clearly, but the name above it looked like, “Kiro.” Slowly, it all began to sink in, the “o” at the end of the boy’s name shifting into something a little more familiar.

“Aw, fuck; are you shittin’ me?”

The princess’s mouth gradually dipped into a smile after the comment. “Somehow I knew you’d say something like that.”

“You’re _certain_ your father said this is legit? I mean, Kira being your twin brother is just plain lunacy!”

“I’m confident it’s legit, but, if that’s true, who am I? I _know_ that’s not my mom, Lexi; you knew her too. But, if she _is_ my mom, then the mom we knew wasn’t my real mom and my father wasn’t my real father and—oh shit! What if this lady was some fling of my father’s and I’m some bastard child? Wait, if my father was in the picture, I wouldn’t be a bastard—”

“Cagalli.”

“—but how could he _do_ that to my mother? Or, the woman who _acted_ as my mother or—”

“Cags!”

“Oh Helmaya, I don’t even deserve my title if that’s the case! I shouldn’t even _be_ here! I shouldn’t be an Athha or commanding an army!”

“Cagalli please,” Eclipse begged, pushing out of her seat to grab her cousin before her hysteria could send her flying across to the other side of the hangar. “You’re jumping to too many conclusions. Have you talked to Kira yet?”

She shook her head and took a deep breath to calm herself. “I was going to when I asked you to leave before, but I couldn’t even look in his eyes! Then Athrun was there and it just didn’t come out, so I just got super frustrated and started crying again.” Her fists shook at her sides as Eclipse tightened the grip on her arm. Cagalli was still upset about Lord Uzumi’s death, that much was clear, and what was probably even more frustrating was the fact that she wasn’t sure he was even her father anymore. Secretly, Eclipse envied her. Cagalli had just found out she—most likely—had two sets of parents and based on that woman’s face in the photo, both of them loved her.

“W-what do I do?” she asked, her anger being replaced by panicked tears.

 _Of all the moments to be handed something like this_ , the redhead thought and remembered back to what her uncle had asked of her in Orb. Sighing, she pulled Cagalli into a tight hug. “I don’t care about what some photograph says; you’re my cousin and that’s that. Lord Uzumi was more of a father to you than any man could be, and I _know_ you remember well how good of a mother your mom was. This woman,” Eclipse pointed to the person holding the babies, “is just a name in your gene pool.”

“I keep trying to tell myself that, Lexi, but somehow my mind constantly rolls back to the possibility that I’m just some fake.”

“You’re _not_ a fake,” she stressed, but she also knew her words only meant so much. “The only thing I can suggest is talking to Kira. Maybe you two can figure this out together.”

“Thanks, Lexi. I guess I will.”

Eclipse watched her leave sat back down in the Stealth’s cockpit. For a couple minutes, she just stared, her mind trying to digest what Cagalli had just said. It didn’t really affect her as much as it did the blonde, but she just couldn’t get the scary idea out of her head.

The idea that Kira Yamato might be a blood relative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, another chapter and this is the one just before everyone moves to space. Woohoo! Well, I probably shouldn't be that happy because it is actually a very sad time in the SEED story... It also begins one of the strangest soap operas and possibly meaningless soap operas that happens in the show, but that is just my opinion. 
> 
> Not going to write much else here other than I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm going to repeat my question from last chapter and if anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to let me know.
> 
> I currently have up to Chapter 13 of the second book in this series posted on Fanficiton. Originally, I was going to get Waltz up and then post in both places simultaneously. However, I'm beginning to think there isn't much interest here on Ao3, so unless anyone says otherwise, I think I'll finish Waltz here, but migrate back to and remain on FF. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? TIA.
> 
> See you all in the next chapter and thanks again for taking a spare moment to read. Please take care!
> 
> Strata


	46. Naturally, Hanging Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life in space isn't all fun and games. There's always something lurking under the surface.

Naturally, Hanging Out

_Date: June 20 th_

_Time: Late_

_Location: Space_

_Wow, I’m surprised I even remembered where I put this journal. After the guys gave it to me for my birthday I just kind of threw it in my stuff. I was **sure** I lost it because of everything that went down at the medical facility, but it looks as if the Commander and DaCosta really are good at what they do. Either that or they happened to know the exact binding and found the same journal (and somehow copied Nicol’s penmanship…). At any rate, here I am, writing._

_So, I’m sitting here in my room staring at the wall. There really is no such thing as night and day here in space, but everyone else—except the select few on duty—have gone to sleep. I thought that was a nice idea until I began wrapping myself in my bed and realized, I wasn’t tired. After everything that’s been going on, you’d think I’d be exhausted, but, for some reason, I just can’t fall asleep. Hell, I can’t even close my eyes. Namarra screams in her sleep and she’s in the room right next to mine. On the other side of me is Lathan and even he can hear her, so she has to have some pretty bad night terrors. At least I think they’re night terrors. We—my brother and I always seem to get there at the same time—wake her and she just doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. She has no idea. Cagalli used to have the same problem, but that was when she was really, really little. I guess—with everything Namarra most likely went through—it’s possible for her to have some variation of._

_Aside from Nam’s dog-whistle-screams, things have been rather quiet around here. We’re still making our way to Mendel—hopefully only ten days away or so—and there’s been no trouble, which is good. Stealth is still out of commission, but Lathan and I got the CA up and running this morning. Funny thing is—well, funny to Lathan at least—the first thing it started doing was bitch at me. It got to the point where I had to turn down the volume on the earpiece and Coffee Addict didn’t like that at all. It’s a good thing the automovement was offline because my suit probably would’ve attacked me merely because I ignored it. We’re heading over to the_ Archangel _in the morning, so we’ll be able to do some major remodeling and hopefully get both suits up and running by the time any bounty hunters come chasing after us renegade ships._

 _Cagalli and I have been practically inseparable the past couple of days. Apparently, Kira fled back to the_ Archangel _almost immediately after she had showed him the picture and she’s been avoiding him ever since. It’s not like I can blame her. Hell, I’ve been avoiding that kid since the moment I arrived on Orb soil so I’m not about to tell her otherwise. Namarra’s been sticking close to us as well, but I don’t think her and Cags get along. They butt heads more than anything, but I think they’ve grown to have some kind of seething tolerance for one another. Again, fine with me. Cagalli doesn’t push me about Kira and I don’t push her about Namarra. It’s a pretty good arrangement._

_What’s really interesting though, is where Kira used to be the one always dropping in, Athrun’s taken point. Again, I’m not complaining—and it’s nice to see him on a regular basis—but Cagalli is very obviously flirting with him, which seems almost too normal for us being in a war and all. There are times I wonder if Athrun’s annoyed with it, but he just smiles and we go on as if nothing’s changed. I’d ask him about it if I could confidently say I didn’t feel any kind of jealousy, but, for some reason, I do get a bit ticked about it. Lathan just laughs at me._

_Athrun’s been mentioning something about going to see his father. I’ve tried to talk him out of it, but the conversations have never last long because do I really have a right to do that? I’d prefer he didn’t go alone at least, but that guy is stubborn and persistent, he’ll probably end up going sooner or later. Maybe he’ll let me come with him as backup._

_Dearka—when he’s not hanging around with Miriallia—and I have been trying to send messages to Yzak over the past couple of days, but for some reason they don’t seem to go through. Not even Lathan can figure it out, but, then again, he really didn’t try all that hard. He’s a bit protective of the_ Kusanagi _, so I guess I can understand him being afraid we’d rat out our position or something, but we just want to let him know we’re alive. Can’t be easy catching the news and seeing glimpses of our mobile suits here and there and not being sure whether it’s us, or someone else piloting something that was ours. I wonder if he feels left behind…_

_Speaking of being left behind, we’ve all been keeping close tabs on Orb since headquarters, most of the main Morgenroete facility, and the mass driver were destroyed. So far, my parents have been doing a pretty good job rebuilding the country while making sure the evacuees are being taken care of. The Kingdom of Scandinavia took in most of the people, but some of the orphans—and just some families who didn’t want to stay on Earth—have fled to space. I’m not quite sure how they got out here yet, but I have a feeling ZAFT started sticking its slimy fingers into the chaos and snagged some new recruits. The EA might’ve tried to do the same, but I doubt many people would be willing to fight for the side that nearly obliterated their home._

_My parents aren’t doing it all alone like I had originally thought. The Seirans seem to have taken front, or at least are sharing power with the remaining, extended Athha family in Orb. I don’t remember them very well, but I do recall a Yuna Seiran. I can’t remember whether she—or was it a he?—had a knack for the political stuff or not. I know I don’t. I think I missed the gene on that one. (He? Gah! I don’t remember!)_

_At any rate, I’ve been trying to avoid any messages from Orb just in case they happen to find Kisaka’s report and decide to make a final judgment. My parents might hesitate to pass judgement, but I have a feeling the Seirans won’t._

Eclipse paused, her pen poised over the period after “won’t.” She had every intention of sitting at the desk in her room, but not wanting to take the effort to keep herself pinned down, she rocked with the ship instead, her knees tucked up to her chest for a tabletop while she floated about the room. She was impressed, actually, with how well she was writing the journal entry. It was a small accomplishment, but she had stayed on topic for the most part. “Meh, the little things in life,” she muttered to herself and started chewing on the back end of the pen. She really should have been sleeping, but just couldn’t get her brain to stop working. Cagalli hadn’t talked about the twin thing in the past couple of days, but the whole ordeal was still in the back of Eclipse’s mind, that was for sure. And then there were Namarra’s brothers, SIN-ED—

_Ah, SIN-ED. They’ve been uncharacteristically quiet lately. I messaged Heine about it the other day, but have yet to hear back from him. He said he was part of the Hawkins team and getting a mobile suit, but I haven’t been able to keep tabs on him. I think I’ll have Addict do a check for him tomorrow… I’m sure he’s just busy. And a guy like that just can’t die. …Right?_

“Ugh! Think positive thoughts!” Eclipse shouted at the journal, as if yelling at an inanimate object would make her feel any better. And for a split second, it had. “Heine’s fine,” she told herself again, closing the book and tucking it between her knees and chest and she hugged her shins and the pen floated off to the side. Things were getting really messed up with Namarra trying to save the three Earth Forces pilots and SIN-ED being eerily silent. All the while, she was cooped up in the _Kusanagi_ with a soap opera unfolding around her. _Wow, I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I wish I was back on Januarias 4; back when everything made sense. You kill to survive, to get information, and—most of all—to prove something. Stray and FS were all I had to worry about. MR was_ , she paused as the word hesitated in her head, _gone, but we just had to stick together. And—wow_. She stopped again, reaching up to her cheek and wiping a tear that had fallen. “I’ve gotten so soft it’s sickening.”

_"Oh, have you ever."_

It wasn’t a voice in her head, per se, more like an emotion she felt in the back of her mind. It was a frustrated feeling, as if nothing she ever did would please it and after another discouraged sigh, she knew her other half wasn’t excited about the redhead’s new emotions either. The Berserker was at the edge of her conscious, a place it often staked out when it wanted to play, but Eclipse didn’t feel any hostile need for it to take control. It was merely standing there, judging her. She wanted to open her mouth and ask it a few questions, but somehow that didn’t seem right, like it wasn’t the proper way to communicate. 

It was just a weird moment and Eclipse didn’t fully understand what was going on even though it was her own mind. She just felt her frustration growing, so much in fact that she snatched the pen and threw across the room, watching with wry amusement when it hit the wall and broke open. She was about to do the same thing with the journal when she heard some screaming from the next room and realized Namarra was having her night terrors again. 

Sighing, Eclipse let go of the book and watched it float there in the room. The Berserker was gone, back to whatever door it normally slept behind while Eclipse tried to live a normal life. Perhaps it was just trying to rile her up, but she had never felt the Berserker act that way. Yes, she had known it to be bored, but never so dormant.

Another scream came from the next room and Eclipse propelled herself to the door, pressing the release. Lathan didn’t meet her at the room like usual, but he had been busy lately, so it was only fair she took care of Namarra this time. Besides, she was finally starting to get tired and all the racket was giving her a headache. 

* * *

Eclipse had never been one to care how people viewed her, but somehow the quizzical looks on the verge of glares when some of the _Archangel_ mechanics saw the redhead and Namarra walk into the hangar made her feel a bit uncomfortable. Not in the sense that she was embarrassed, but more like she wanted to fight them all to prove she should be there. Eclipse could tell Namarra felt the same, mainly because she had to hold up her arm and block her before she could get too far in front. 

“The captain said we could use the equipment,” the redhead remarked, making eye contact with three mechanics who all looked at each other instead of meeting her stare. “I know it’s been almost four days, but we couldn’t even move our suits until now. We won’t get in the way of your duties, we promise.” Namarra made some kind of scoffing noise and Eclipse did her best to keep a straight face. It wasn’t easy.

“Stop gawkin’ guys, geez,” an older gentleman said. He pushed through his fellow mechanics to stand in front of the duo, his oil-stained scrubs a welcomed sight of experience and hard work. A toothpick teetered up and down between his lips as he brought his hand up to run through his shaggy brown hair. He couldn’t have been much older than Mu, but definitely older than the other mechanics in the hangar.

After taking a moment to size up the two girls, he stuck his hand out to shake. Eclipse took it first. “Chief—uh, that’s just Murdoch to ya, I guess.”

“Lunar Ecl—uh, Lexi Rymyr, I mean.”

Namarra shook his hand next. “Namarra Legund. Unlike you two, I really have no trouble remembering my name.” She smiled sweetly while the others just frowned.

“The cap’n told me ya guys would be usin’ some of da equipment.” Murdoch waved them over to one of the computer modules, patting his hand gently on the top. “I’ll let ya use this terminal here. It’s a bit menopausal, but ya should be able to get yer work done just fine. These yer suits here?” He pointed up at the Stealth and Decay. The two girls nodded. “Wow, they look like shit. What’d ya do, put ‘em through a meat grinder?”

“No, there wasn’t one readily available, so we used the next best thing and let some Daggers have their way with them,” Namarra retorted.

“You should see the Daggers though,” Eclipse continued, offering a shrug as a finish.

Probably not being able to tell whether they were kidding or not, Murdoch just moved on. “We ‘ave some scrap metal and spare parts if ya need anything, but we’ve never fixed a GINN before, so those parts are scarce. And this suit ‘ere,” he pointed a thumb over to the Decay, “well, I’ve no idea _what_ that is.”

“Pretty much they’re both hybrids of some kind; modern chimeras. So, whatever you have should be fine,” Eclipse explained, gesturing to the Stealth’s missing head and arm. “We can fix most of the major things on the _Regean_ , but we don’t have the right terminal to adjust the internal shit.”

“Well, computers we can help ya on, if ya wish. Our brains are wired pretty good for that sorta thing.”

“We’d actually like to do it ourselves, if you don’t mind. My brother wants to install a system into the Decay and we can handle our own adjustments,” the redhead continued, reaching up to the CA earpiece. “You might find the system rather interesting, as well.” She smirked at his confused look and then turned back to the Stealth. “Coffee Addict, go online.”

After a moment, the metallic alto-bass combination spoke into her ear. “Some systems green; most red and non-responsive. Communications working fine, unfortunately.”

Eclipse shook her head. She wasn’t sure how an emotionless voice could sound pissed off, but somehow the Stealth pulled it off. “Good. Set up file transfer, we’re copying you to the Decay since Lathan doesn’t have the original file anymore.”

“What a douchebag.”

Eclipse paused, too startled by the sarcasm to laugh. Actually, she couldn’t even remember what she was going to say next.

“Warming up internal systems. File transfer can commence in fifteen minutes.”

“Roger that,” she replied and her arm fell back to her side.

“Who the hell ya talkin’ to?” Murdoch asked, having taken a step back as soon as she had started acting like what he had considered looney.

“The Stealth.” As if on cue, the internal computers started whining, the monitors turning blue and lighting up the cockpit. The whole mobile suit seemed to shift, as if it was trying to shake out muscle cramps or achy joints. After all, this had been the first time the suit had been outside the _Regean_ hangar in a few days. They had just finished replacing the monitors and computers in the Decay and the Stealth had just had its thrusters repaired. Eclipse’s suit could now move on its own, but the Decay was grounded. Hell, the redhead had to shuttle Namarra and her machine over.

Murdoch took a step forward when he saw the systems light up, but took two steps back when he saw the machine move. “That’s messed up—but in a good way.”

“I want that,” Namarra remarked, propelling herself to the Stealth’s cockpit and sticking her head inside. “Does it wipe our ass after you flush too?”

Eclipse hid a smile, seeing the cockpit door slowly start closing. She gave a side glance at Murdoch, but he didn’t seem to notice, probably too lost in his thoughts about all the possibilities. Unfortunately, one of the other mechanics shouted and Namarra jumped out of the way, barely managing to grab the catwalk railing before she slammed into the wall.

“Cocky bitch. But I like her,” the Stealth said and that time Eclipse laughed. Maybe a personality wasn’t bad after all.

* * *

Lathan came over as promised, and after a couple of hours, finally had the Decay’s operating system up and running. He was typing some things down on the lower terminal while Eclipse stood nearby connecting a cord from the Stealth to the Decay so they could transfer the CA data.

“Namarra, you ready?” Lathan asked and he saw her give a thumbs up. “Lexi?” The same response. “Alright, commencing CA transfer now.”

Already knowing it was going to take a while, Eclipse grabbed the gloves from her back pocket and snagged the wire cutters as she made her way to the empty space where the Stealth’s left arm was supposed to be. That side had yet to be connected to the battery—so there was no need for her to worry about getting electrocuted—but she had to start tearing out and replacing the old wiring in order for her to start connecting the new arm once she found something suitable to put there.

She was about 10 minutes in and five seconds short of a frustrated fit when the cutters slipped from her grasp once more, bouncing off the Stealth and barely missing her shoulder on the rebound. “Damnit!” she shouted, twisting around to grab the tool before it could float across to the other side of the hangar. “Stupid sonofa—" she hissed when she spun back to her machine to see a wire floating away. Cursing again, she grabbed it and made her way back to her sitting position.

She hated rewiring. It probably didn’t help that it wasn’t a clean cut and everything was in knots after all the transferring at Orb, but there _had_ to be a better way to put a new arm on her suit. Hell, why not just get a new machine?

 _I hope Namarra’s having the same trouble,_ she thought, not wanting her to be the only one suffering, but when she looked over at her counterpart, she saw her humming. Probably seeing the redhead turn her way, she started singing a little louder. It took a moment, but eventually Eclipse recognized the tune. “Aw shit, not now!”

Namarra just gave a childish smile.

 _“_ _Kazesasou, kokage ni, utsubusete naiteru._

_Mi mo shiranu, watashi wo, watashi ga, miteita._

_Yuku hito no, shirabe wo, kanaderu, GITAARA._

_Konu hito no, nageki ni, hoshi ha ochite._

_“Yukanaide, donna ni sakende mo._

_ORENJI no, hanabira, shizuka ni, yureru dake._

_Yawarakana, hitai ni nokosareta._

_Te no hira no, kioku haruka._

_Tokoshie no, sayonara, tsuma hiku.”_

Eclipse sighed when she heard the melody, knowing it was the same one Namarra had sung on the island. The Natural had brought up the idea of them singing it together and after a few lessons, she seemed to take it seriously, creating an alto part for Eclipse to accompany. The lyrics had been the easy part to memorize and even though she had been doing well on the harmony, Namarra always strove for perfection, so no matter how well Eclipse sung, the Natural wasn’t impressed. She had warned Eclipse there might be an impromptu concert and apparently this was the perfect time for it. The “perfect” part was, of course, debatable.

The other mechanics in the hangar stopped to admire the song, welcoming the break as well as the nostalgia. Namarra’s voice carried through the entire hangar, the echoing off the metal interior adding an interesting effect to the music.

Like the song, her voice was gorgeous.

Eclipse had noticed the beauty of it early on, but since then, the Natural had refused to sing in front of anyone but herself. Namarra was a real shower singer despite her rock-hard exterior. Eclipse was glad to see she had finally gotten up enough guts to share the song with the others, but the redhead, knowing she had to sing as well, just felt embarrassed. The second verse added the harmony and after a quick break Eclipse would be sharing her musical talent with everyone in the hangar.

She straightened so she could get ready for her entrance. The two of them were singing _a capella_ so they had to make some kind of eye contact before starting the next verse. Namarra smiled and winked while Eclipse shook her head.

_“Yasashii te ni sugaru, kodomo no, kokoro wo._

_Moesakaru, kuruma ha, furiharai susumu._

_Yuku hito no, nageki wo, kanadete GITAARA._

_Mune no ito, hageshiku, kakinarashite._

_“Aa kanashimi ni, somaranai, shirosa de._

_ORENJI no, hanabira, yureteta, natsu no kage ni._

_Y_ _awarakana, hitai wo nakushite mo._

_Akaku someta suna haruka, koete yuku._

_Sayonara, no RIZUMU.”_

Eclipse was quiet at first, but as the verse went on she gained more confidence. When Athrun, Dearka and some of her other comrades walked in, however, her voice cracked slightly and her cheeks flushed, but she regained her composure quickly after returning to her wiring and not watching them.

Namarra wasn’t fazed by any of it, and it didn’t even seem to be hindering her work. She continued her own rewiring in the Decay’s cockpit, her fingers stopping every once in a while to check what she had just done.

_“Omoide wo, yakitsukushite, susumu daichi ni._

_Natsukashiku, me fuite yuku, mono ga aru no.”_

Eclipse looked over at the Natural when the small verse ended, trying to get some sort of eye contact before the last one started. Namarra finished up the interior and stepped out onto the platform. She glanced over at the redhead and smirked slightly before turning around to start taking off one of the outer panels.

_“Akatsuki no, kuruma wo, miokutte._

_ORENJI no, hanabira, yureteru ima mo dokoka._ _Itsuka mita, yasurakana, yoake wo._

_Mou ichido, te ni suru made._

_Kesanaide, tomoshibi._ _Kuruma ha, mawaru yo.” (***)  
_

At first everyone was silent. Whether it was because none of them knew the song was over, or they were still stunned to hear someone other than Lacus had an amazing singing voice neither of them could tell. The audience looked at each other, as if deciding whether or not to break out in applause, but Namarra’s statement decided for them. “Not bad Lexi, but,” she paused, “you still suck. We’ll have to work a little more.”

Eclipse frowned and was more than happy to hear Lathan’s announcement of the file transfer. Both girls kicked off their suits to meet him next to the terminal.

Lathan blinked and looked at each of them individually when they arrived. “I didn’t know you had talents.”

“I do, she doesn’t,” Namarra replied. “It wasn’t _horrible_ , but it sure as Hell wasn’t good.”

“Whatever, I’ve had—what—three lessons?” Eclipse retaliated, holding up her fingers for effect. She seemed to stress the middle one more so than the other two.

“Alright, I’ll cut you _some_ slack. It wasn’t half bad and I threw you to the sharks—"

“ _Another_ fish analogy?” the redhead grumbled, but Namarra kept talking.

“—but don’t worry, I think Athrun’s tone deaf.”

Lathan burst out laughing and instead of blushing, Eclipse went right to the fist fight. She reached out to grab the other female—who had started sticking out her tongue and snickering—but only managed to pull out a couple of her long strands.

“ _Ow_!” she hissed and Eclipse readied for another attack.

“Oh, break it up,” Lathan said—apparently having stopped his laughing—as he pushed the two apart. They each caught themselves on the corner of the terminal. “Namarra, here, put this in here.” He handed her the small funnel-like earpiece as he pointed to his ear. 

She just stared, turning it around in her fingers. “Put this _where_?”

“I said your ear.”

“No, technically you pointed. For a female you have to specify, bro,” Eclipse muttered.

“Oh hell, Lexi, turn off the bitch switch. And you.” He turned back to Namarra. “Just put it in an ear and shut up. ou _do_ want this system, right?”

“The CA, he means,” Eclipse explained, withholding a sadistic smile. Namarra’s pain was going to be _terribly_ amusing.

“Which ear?”

“Doesn’t matter,” both Rymyr siblings said at the same time. Lathan surprised Eclipse then, turning to the redhead and winking. They were both getting their own personal revenge it seemed.

“Will I regret this?”

“No,” they both said again and the Natural shrugged. Reaching up to her left ear, she slipped the device inside, even pushing it down for good measure.

“Now wha—holy shit! What the—oh damn it!” Namarra cursed as she let go of the terminal and clutched the left side of her face. “This is—fuck! I’m gonna _kill_ you!”

The siblings just shared a high five.

* * *

There was another scare on the radar and since Eclipse’s suit was still less than battle-worthy, she was stuck inside while Athrun, Kira, and Mu went to go investigate. Either the Stealth or the Decay would have been the most ideal for the mission—given their Mirage Colloid capabilities—but neither were ready even after the four days straight of work. But that made Eclipse even more nervous.

It was a long 45 minutes, but eventually the guys gave the all clear. She let out a sigh of relief after hearing the news, fearing the worse, but glad nothing had been waiting for them. Releasing the Stealth’s controls, she stared at her feet and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure why she had been so nervous, but she just had the distant feeling something was out there and—for better or for worse—it was going to get them. Morbid, maybe, but still not a feeling she could ignore.

It took a couple more moments, but eventually she took off her helmet and headed back to the _Regean_ ’s locker room. Stuffing her gear into one of the lockers, she put back on her khaki pants and orange Orb jacket before venturing into the hallways. The Stealth was still undergoing repairs, so she had been travelling back and forth between the _Archangel_ and the _Kusanagi_ , depending on who had the right equipment and spare parts at the time. The Decay was still in rough shape, but mainly because the internal operating system had been shot to pieces for the most part. It was a frustrating business trying to fit that back together and Eclipse was a little irritated she had been doing most of the work, but Namarra wasn’t as knowledgeable in the computer area as the redhead was. So, they just shared the work on both machines.

Eclipse had been paying such close attention to the repairs she had forgotten about another matter she had wanted to discuss with an old family friend, Erika Simmons. The redhead wasn’t sure when the last time she had had a long conversation with the woman, but she and Eclipse’s parents were rather close, even though Erika worked for the Orb military. Erika was a bit younger than Eclipse’s parents, but they had met on many occasions and despite the technician’s youth, they seemed to share some kind of mutual respect with one another. Perhaps that was the reason she was so nervous as she turned the final hallway to stand in front of the technician’s room. 

Bringing back her hand, she had every intention of knocking, but ended up uncurling her fingers after a couple seconds of hesitance. Sighing, the hand fell back to her side and she was about to spin back to her own quarters when Erika turned the corner and started heading her way. The redhead probably could have just fled saying she hadn’t seen the older woman, but they would have to talk to each other eventually. Besides, they had always seemed to miss one another back in Orb, so _one_ time they had to at least say hello.

“Lexi, wow, this is a surprise.” The technician stopped herself at the door and pressed in the sequence to unlock it. “You coming to see me?” Eclipse nodded and smiled, figuring ducking out of the offer now would just be cowardly. “Come on in then.”

The room was about the same size as hers back on the _Regean_ with little more than a cot for a bed, a desk, and a side bathroom. There was also a computer running in the room for Erika’s personal use and knowing her role as chief technician, it only made sense she would have her own terminal.

“Please, make yourself comfortable. I know there isn’t much room,” Erika began, grabbing the back of the computer chair, but Eclipse had already plopped down on the cot. Shrugging, the older woman sat down near the desk. “I don’t mean to skip past all the pleasantries, but you seem troubled by something. Can I help?”

Sighing, Eclipse figured she might as well start explaining. “Has Cagalli told you guys the news her father passed onto her as she left Orb?”

Erika thought about it for a second, but she soon shook her head. It was a slow shake, almost as if she was waiting for Eclipse to share the secret before she verified if she knew about it or not. 

“Something about her and Kira Yamato being twins? Does this make any sense to you?”

“Ah, that,” the technician said, chuckling a bit as if she was trying to get rid of some nervousness. Eclipse really wished she could read her better. “I don’t know why he had chosen to tell her in that way, but I have known about Cagalli’s adoption for a while. We were just never allowed to make it public knowledge.”

“A-adopted?” Erika nodded. “You knew about this _before_ her father handed her the picture?”

Erika nodded again. “I can understand why you would be interested, but I don’t get why you seem so upset.”

“You know Cagalli’s been like a sister to me and this,” she paused, looking for the right word, “ordeal has really thrown her off. I’m sure you notice her wandering aimlessly nowadays? And even avoiding Kira?”

“Yes, I’ve noticed, but I never really thought anything of it until you told me she knew.”

“Well, I don’t think she knows she adopted, but she does know about Kira. Or maybe she suspects? I don’t know.” Eclipse trailed off, her eyes dropping to her hands.

“A _lot_ of things happened back then, Lexi, and I know it doesn’t make much sense right now, but it _did_ work out for the better.” The way she put it made it obvious there was more to the story and the redhead looked back up at her, only to see the older woman looking thoughtfully off towards the corner of the room.

“Okay, can you tell me this at least? Why is Kira a Coordinator and Cagalli a Natural then if they’re twins? Don’t they tamper with the genes _before_ the egg would split off to make the two babies?”

Erika cocked an eyebrow and brought her right hand up to rest thoughtfully on her chin. “You’ve done some research?” 

The redhead shrugged. “Been quite interested in this sort of thing recently…” she admitted and trailed off, turning her gaze away for a second and hoping it didn’t share more than she particularly wanted to in that moment. “I just thought you were the best one to ask. Cagalli’s been avoiding the subject, to put it plainly, and maybe talking to you will help put some things into perspective?”

“I don’t know _a lot_ about what happened back then, but I do know that when the twins—Cagalli and Kira—came to Orb they were given to separate families. The boy was given to the Naturals, the Yamatos, and Cagalli was raised by Lord Uzumi and his wife.”

“So, they’re both adopted?”

“ _Technically_ , but _officially_ they’re each the children of their respective parents. As for their genetics,” she continued with a small shrug, “I wasn’t given the liberty to look into it. I was still in school back then and the only reason I even know about what had happened is your mother. At one point—I think when you were around four or something—she started getting worried about Cagalli’s origin and her potential title. If they didn’t get in front of the story and it was leaked, the scandal could be crippling. The general idea was to fully embrace Cagalli into the family as if blood. I think that was why you two were often seen together even if you and Lathan were, technically, on the fringes of the family already. Though, all of this is just my speculation.”

Eclipse sighed and shook her head. Eclipse’s mother and Cagalli’s mother had been good friends for decades even before Lord Uzumi pursued politics, but the redhead distinctly remembered her younger years because Cagalli was practically inseparable from it. If her playdates with Cagalli had more to do with her mother having been worried about potential scandals than any genuine desire for her daughter to have a good relationship with her best friend’s daughter, those years when she was a child were quickly starting to blacken. Perhaps Eclipse never really was anything else other than a bargaining chip. 

“Don’t look down on your mother though,” Erika added after a moment. “Many of us were nervous about what was happening. Even though at the time the twins were found we had no idea Lord Uzumi would grow to be such a great politician, we couldn’t help but see the events unfolding as some kind of bad omen. What if Cagalli did succeed her father and her past caught up with her?” The technician shrugged and let Eclipse think on it from there.

The redhead understood the reasoning, and was starting to realize that was probably why Lord Uzumi had given the picture to Cagalli before she left Orb. Obviously, she had the right to know—and hearing it from her father was the best thing—but it was about time for her to face her future as well as her past.

“It’s all messed up,” Eclipse said after a long moment, sighing.

Erika laughed. “I agree, but I want you to promise me you won’t tell Cagalli any of this.”

“Huh? The whole reason I came here was to—"

“I know you’re trying to watch out for her, but she has to come to understand this on her own terms. If she wants to come see me—or even talk to Kisaka—she will. You’re a loyal friend to be doing this, Lexi, but I think it’s about time you stopped babying the girl and just let her learn on her own.”

It was Eclipse’s turn to offer a small chuckle. “Building character, huh? Seeing if she’ll fold or actually take on the role everyone believes she deserves?”

“She deserves it, I don’t doubt that, but you’re right, she has to start believing it herself.”

“Yeah. Fine, I’ll keep quiet then.”

“There was one more thing I’d like to talk to you about before you leave, if you still have some time.” Eclipse shrugged and Erika gave a faint smile. “I’m not sure how much you know about my research, but for the past couple of years I have been finding scientific evidence on the existence of SEEDs—or Superior Evolutionary Element Destined-factor, if you want to use its formal title.”

“What’s that?”

“To put it simply, it’s a form of advanced consciousness developed in a select few, whether they are Natural or Coordinator. They are said to be the ones to bring us—people in general—to a better existence, or something along those lines.”

“And you have proof of this?”

Erika nodded. “I have very little _concrete_ proof at the moment, but I have witnessed many things that have led me to believe SEEDs really do exist.”

“And what does this have to do with me?”

Erika’s smile faltered then and she leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees as she folded her hands. Eclipse found herself leaning back, not quite sure what to make of the close proximity and the look in her eyes. Pity? “I know very little of your exploits in the ZAFT military, but I have seen the data from the experiments done on you.”

Ah, she understood it now.

Eclipse could feel her face droop into a blank stare and Erika looked down and to the side. “An old classmate of mine was a member of the research team conducting the experiments and she knew of my area of research so she was sharing as much as she safely could, knowing it was all a scientific breakthrough—or at least had the potential to be. Now, I did not know it was you they were doing the research on and I cannot apologize enough for what you went through.” Eclipse turned her gaze away when Erika’s focus returned, biting her lip. “No matter what angle you looked at, it was inhumane and if I was a member, I probably would have quit the team for the sake of my own conscience.” Sighing, the older woman reached forward and grabbed Eclipse’s hand, putting it warmly between hers. “I hope—for your sanity’s sake—you recall very little?”

Nodding slowly, she took her hand from the woman’s grip, not wanting to be comforted in that moment. In fact, she didn’t want to have to remember it at all, but perhaps that stain was going to last.

Erika sighed and recoiled her hands, sitting back straighter in her seat. “Good and I _pray_ you never remember.” She trailed off and the room grew quiet.

Eclipse’s memories were still jumbled from that time and even if someone was to help her recall, her mind just seemed too tired to retain the knowledge. She still remembered the moment it looked as if someone had taken an icepick to her vision and her sight had cracked, the only metaphor the redhead could equate it to being the shattering of glass. Eclipse shivered. Could she just not retain the facts anymore? Trauma maybe? She didn’t know, but she was damn sure she didn’t want to sit there and be told it was all worth it.

“Despite all that,” Erika began again softly. “And please don’t take this as me being callous—the little research they did gather was practically world breaking and the scientific community went nuts. The last time that kind of extensive testing had been done on an individual believed to have the Berserker gene, the scientists were killed and the research lost. There had been rumors Blue Cosmos stole the information and had the scientists assassinated, but no one could ever confirm it so the matter just passed.”

Eclipse tensed and felt her eyes narrow that time, her lip curling up in a snarl. “So, you’re _happy_ I was a lab rat?”

“Please, Lexi, don’t look at it like that,” Erika replied calmly, reaching out to put a maternal hand on Eclipse’s again. “As I mentioned, I _didn’t_ approve of the methods those researchers used, but I can’t deny the fact that the data they acquired was monumental. Once everything went south—when you escaped—my old friend risked a lot to send me even more of the research. I have yet to read all of it,” she admitted, “mainly because the first page listed your real name. I knew the file was ‘Top Secret’ at the very least when I saw you listed as Lexi Rymyr instead of Berserker Candidate and immediately saved it to a separate disk before wiping my computer clean.”

That was a surprise and Eclipse’s lips softened. “And you still have the file?”

Erika nodded. “I wanted to ask your permission to look at it and compare notes. There are a lot of similarities between Berserkers and SEEDs, but something tells me there is one _major_ difference hidden in that data.”

“And judging by past experiences, it can’t be a positive difference.”

“I’m not going to jump to conclusions, but I’m sure we’ll both get a lot of questions answered.”

Eclipse took a moment to think it over. Out of all the people looking into her genetic obscurities, Erika might be the best choice. Studying the older woman’s face, the redhead didn’t see the same hunger in her eyes that she had seen on so many other scientists, but it was still there—an eagerness that she knew resided in every researcher. The thrill of looking for an answer to a tough question. Eclipse needed someone like that on her side of the battlefield, but the worry was still in the pit of her stomach. Was it answers about the Berserker Erika was searching for? Or something to boost her own SEED research? Did Eclipse care?

Eventually, the redhead sighed. “I’ll need to talk to someone else before I can give you a solid answer.”

“Of course, take all the time you need.”

Eclipse nodded and said a small goodbye before leaving the room. She probably should have given her authorization right away, but at the very least Namarra deserved to know what was going on and thinking on it a little more couldn’t hurt too much. After all, letting Erika look into the research meant they would all have a bit more clarity.

But she could tell it was going to be one terrifying experience.

* * *

“What’s their location?” FS asked, peeking over Stray’s shoulder. The chef actually jumped at the touch, but his friend didn’t seem to notice.

“Their shuttle is still in space heading towards Aprilias 1. Probably be there within the next eight hours. They must’ve really begged if they were able to get and audience with a _Supreme_ Council member.”

“It’s just one of the smaller, less influential ones,” Melanie muttered, crossing her arms and legs in one of the back seats of the shuttle.

“Tad Elsman isn’t _that_ insignificant, sis,” Phoebe replied calmly, fastening the leather bracelets on her wrists to cover up her healing cuts. They were from a failed suicide—or maybe homicide was a better way to put it—and would probably forever haunt her. FS had wanted to see how far she would go. The cuts were shallow—and Melanie had arrived just in time—but for someone who had just watched his entire organization crumble, FS seemed to be eager to lose another member.

“Yes, his son’s a friend of Lexi’s. If killing her parents isn’t enough to impress the Berserker, adding guilt to the mix definitely will do _something_.”

“And what do you hope to do when you _do_ impress the Berserker, huh?” Melanie asked, sounding snotty even to Stray. The chef cringed, feeling FS push off the back of his chair to meet the Lust girl. Phoebe yelled FS’s name and Stray turned around just in time to see her grab the Sin’s arm before he could reach the back of the shuttle.

“Enough. Please.”

The two of them locked stares until FS smiled and brought his free hand up to Phoebe’s cheek. Patting it lightly he said, “You’ll see,” then propelled back to the co-captain seat. “Everyone, buckle up. We’ll be in port soon.” Melanie grumbled, but obeyed and Phoebe clicked her seatbelt soon after her sister. 

FS leaned over a moment later, putting a hand on Stray’s shoulder. “Keep an eye on Mel,” he said, flicking his chin backwards.

Stray just stared as he watched his friend’s face shift from serious to that sadistic happiness he seemed to be possessed with lately and nodded obediently. Stray still followed FS’s every command, but “keeping an eye” on someone usually amounted to murder. Even Stray refused to kill Melanie. FS patted the chef’s shoulder twice then leaned back into his own seat. Stray inhaled, realizing he didn’t know he had stopped breathing.

* * *

“Wow, since when do you have a tattoo?” Eclipse asked, ducking under Namarra’s roundhouse kick. She caught a glimpse of the design “7-13” on the inside of the Natural’s left wrist. It was a little more ornate than the simple numbers, but there wasn’t enough time for her to fully digest it.

“What’d ya mean?” she asked, catching her balance again after the attack just in time to jump over Eclipse’s attempt at a trip. “I’ve _always_ had it. Your observation skills just suck.”

“Fuck off. You’ve always worn gloves until now.” She rolled backwards to avoid Namarra’s next kick. “Is it a date?”

“Yes,” she said, giving them both some room and readying herself for her next move. “It’s the day my brother died.”

The redhead wasn’t sure what to say, awkwardly opening and closing her mouth in an attempt to utter something comforting, but the only thing she could think of at the time was, “Oh.”

“Oh? Wow, _another_ thing you suck at.” The Natural took a step forward and shifted her weight to her left, swinging her right foot in for another kick aimed at Eclipse’s side. 

Eclipse pushed Namarra’s attack downwards with her hands and spun into an elbow jab. The Natural crouched down to avoid the attack and grabbed the back of the redhead’s right knee, flipping her onto the ground. Still holding her leg, Namarra grabbed Eclipse’s ankle in her other hand and twisted.

Eclipse hissed and rolled with the attack, kicking out with her left foot as it spun in Namarra’s direction and making some connection with the Natural’s side. Relieved, Eclipse felt her grip loosen and wiggled out of the hold. Kicking again, she hit only air as Namarra back rolled out of the way. 

Taking the opportunity to get back to her feet, Eclipse put an arm on her bed and hoisted herself up, ready for another go. “No, I only suck certain things, but you’re not my type.”

Namarra gave an abrupt laugh before rolling onto the balls of her feet, nearly missing the corner of the desk as she rose. “Damn, it’s cramped in here.”

“Only two of the living quarters have gravity options. Lathan said that’s all he could rig up.”

“But how’re we supposed to get some decent training in if we’re running into things like a toilet?”

“I thought you enjoyed fighting in bathrooms?” Eclipse mused, reaching down to put some pressure on her right ankle. Leave it to Namarra to get in a cheap shot by going for Eclipse’s injury.

“Yes, fighting in different environments builds character, but if we can help it—"

“We can’t, Nam, not until we get to Mendel. So, just stop complaining and let’s keep training. We have to build ourselves up again somehow.”

“Whatever,” she responded and opened the desk drawer. Inside was Eclipse’s journal. Smirking, the Natural picked it up and was about to toss it at the redhead as a distraction when she looked up to see Eclipse already charging her.

Eclipse swung at Namarra’s face and the Natural brought up the journal to block. The punch hit with a “thwap” on the leather surface and Namarra reached around to grab Eclipse’s wrist before she could swing again. With her right arm caught for the moment, the redhead started swinging with her left.

Namarra blocked each attack with the journal, trying to throw Eclipse’s punches down and away in order to get in a good counter. Her left hand struggled with Eclipse’s right, throwing her a little off balance, but she was confident an opening would come soon.

And Eclipse let it.

The redhead’s arm went limp and—just as she had anticipated—Namarra noticed. The Natural blocked Eclipse’s attack down and to the side, putting all her force behind the punch in her left hand still holding the redhead’s arm. Curling her fingers over Eclipse’s wrist, Namarra swung, using the redhead’s arm as additional force in a perfect “You’re hitting yourself” moment. Eclipse tensed at the last second and spun, bringing her left elbow up to connect with the back of Namarra’s head. Her right arm twisted awkwardly in the exchange, but it wasn’t a serious injury. At least until Namarra continued tugging on it.

The Natural lost her balance and started tumbling towards the door, but she never let go of Eclipse’s wrist. The redhead staggered after her, trying to grab onto something to steady herself and get some footing, but there wasn’t much near the door to hang onto.

Namarra hit the door first and Eclipse struggled, but managed to hit the wall right next to her. Smirking—and having recovered first—Namarra pulled the redhead towards her for a headbutt and was about to make contact when the door opened behind her. The gravity was less forceful when it opened, but still enough to startle her. Eclipse crashed into her and they both fell into the gravity-less hallway and back against the wall.

“Oops,” Lathan said as they passed by in front of him. “I knocked three times, but no one answered.” The two of them groaned as they turned, frowning in response to his small smile. “Did I interrupt something? I mean, don’t worry about me and feel free to continue if—"

“Get your mind out of your ass, Lathan,” Eclipse retorted, snatching her journal still in Namarra’s hands. She pointed the book at the Natural. “And leave my stuff alone.”

“The whole room’s fair game,” Namarra responded, rubbing the back of her head. “I wouldn’t complain if you used anything in my room next session.”

“You don’t _have_ anything, dumbass.”

“Alright, alright break it up.” Lathan sighed. It was amazing how often those two bickered, but—at the same time—they showed the most amazing sense of loyalty to one another. “Namarra, I came to tell you the initial set up on the OS is complete. You have to trek over to the _Archangel_ again to finish up the heavy stuff though.”

The Natural sighed. “Fine. Chicibo App, status on running equipment.”

Eclipse and Lathan exchanged amused smirks as they watched Namarra use her new CA system. They both knew where the name had come from—Eclipse had filled Lathan in—but it was always entertaining to hear.

“Roger that. Prepare for transport to the _Archangel_.”

“Oh,” Lathan began, turning and flicking his sister on the shoulder. “I was looking through our inventory and I think there’s enough scrap to make a new arm. Might be easier than attaching an Astray’s and having more headaches than a migraine-ist at a metal concert.”

“Migraine-ist?”

“Go with it.”

“Alright, I’ll look into it,” Eclipse replied, heading back into her room and walking over to the side panel. She turned off the gravity then slipped her journal back into its drawer before meeting the other two in the hallway.

“Y’know,” Lathan started, tapping a finger against his cheek, “I think I’ll start working on a new cockpit system for you two, especially since you’re way better at the hand-to-hand stuff than the mobile suit crap.”

“What was that?” they both said at the same time.

Lathan threw his hands up in an unarmed position. “Or so I’ve heard.” Namarra rolled her eyes and Eclipse sighed, both heading down to the hangar. “Hm, and spandex. Yeah, spandex’ll do it.”

“Excuse me?” Namarra spat.

“Can you _not_ say that when you’re trailing us?”

“Pervert,” Namarra added.

“No, I—ugh, c’mon! You guys are so sensitive.”

“How can you _not_ be offended by that?” Eclipse asked as they all turned the corner. “Just keep your daydreams to yourself.”

“Amen to that.”

Lathan sighed and pressed the button near his room door to change and get ready for transport. “You won’t be saying that when the system turns out to be the coolest thing you’ve ever seen!”

“Ask for gratitude then!” Eclipse shouted as her and Namarra veered off into the locker room to change into their pilot suits. They were about halfway through changing when Eclipse turned to her right to look at the Natural as she was finishing up the final clips on her suit near her neck.

“Hey, Namarra, I just remembered something.”

Eclipse heard a loud _click_ and then Namarra’s head popped around her own open locker door. “Hm?”

“I spoke with Erika Simmons, one of the main technicians aboard the _Kusanagi_ , and she mentioned the research ZAFT did on me in the PLANTs. Apparently, she has most of the files and wants to do some comparing with her own data. What’cha think?”

“Research? ZAFT? On you?” Eclipse nodded. “Was it on what I think it’s on?” The redhead nodded again and Namarra sighed, her eyes curving away back to the inside of her locker. They had yet to share everything about their respective experiences with the scientific community and perhaps that was the push they needed to do just that. It wasn’t going to be an easy topic by any means and watching the thoughtfulness on the Natural’s face made Eclipse wonder what they were going to learn.

“Do you think she could help me with some research on my brothers before she starts on us?” Namarra began slowly, turning back to the redhead. “I feel like they have less time than we do.”

“Ah,” Eclipse started, nodding slowly. It was a good point. “I’ll go talk to her as soon as we get back. We might want to start tapping into the Earth Forces database soon too then. How far are you on your initial preparations?” 

“I’m still acknowledged in the database so I can view all of my original information. I’m just debating whether or not to create a whole ‘nother user in order to not be targeted so quickly.”

“We could have three accounts—one for you, one for me, and another for Lathan if he’s in—then have a ghost hacker to distract them while we find what we need.”

The Natural nodded. “That might be the easiest thing to do. Just give me a little more time to see how far I can get into the system and find where we need to hack.”

“Alright.”

Namarra gave her a small wave and grabbed her helmet, leaving to head into the hangar. Eclipse did the same, grabbing her helmet and shutting her locker before following the Natural. Reaching the Stealth, she sat back in the seat and switched on the monitors, surprised to see a message blinking on the side of her screen. She opened it and started reading.

_Nothing on SIN-ED, sorry. I was just transferred to the Hawkins team. The Chairman’s been acting strange lately and Lathan tells me you’re fine. Oh, and since when do you sing?_

_Heine Westenfluss_

Eclipse sighed and shook her head. Leave it to her brother to have immediately told the other singer in her life about her semi-talent. Leaning back in her seat, she closed her eyes and smiled. Heine was alive; that was good. The part about SIN-ED still worried her, but right then, things were turning out to be better than she had thought.

* * *

They had gotten through port security easily enough which was a surprise given Phoebe had the suspicious marks on her wrists. In fact, a security officer had pulled her aside for questioning, but FS—a bit too eagerly—explained the failed suicide and ushered her away. If anything, his acting skills had improved because they weren’t stopped again after that.

“Phoebe and I are going to speak with our contact. I want you two,” FS pointed at the remaining Lust twin and Stray, “to track our prey. Report in every half hour.”

“Roger that,” Stray said and Melanie nodded. FS made eye contact with the chef and did a little head flick that could have been either a nod or a twitch. Stray didn’t gesture back, but he knew what he wanted.

“C’mon,” Melanie said after they had parted ways, grabbing Stray’s arm and pulling him through the crowd. Her hurried steps lead the way, her ability to weave through the wave of people no doubt easier when she didn’t have Stray trailing after her, but she didn’t seem to mind, the chef offering more than one audible apology and grunt whenever he either cut someone off or physically hit them.

“Mel—please.” He tore his arm from her grasp when she finally started to slow, taking the first chance to catch his breath when she turned them towards a side alley. “Stop, we’re going in the wrong direction. They’re meeting _there_.” He pointed across the street to one of the taller buildings in the distance. It sprouted higher than the shops and knowing it was at least a 10- to 15-minute from their location, it was a building that towered over most of the others around it. It was an office building of some kind, but was also frequently used for international relations, a safe place for the diplomats who would rather speak outside of the often formal setting of an embassy.

“This is our chance to get out of here!”

“You’d leave Phoebe with _him_?” he hissed in return, taking a step towards her. “You _know_ he’d take it all out on her. Can you live with that?”

“Phoebe’s his. She hasn’t been my sister in a long time,” Melanie spat, taking a step towards him at the same time. “She even _thanked_ him at the airport for getting her away from that security guard. _Thanked_ him, Gluttony, even though he was the one that forced her to—to—” She didn’t finish, turning her head away and spitting on the ground instead.

Stray frowned at the display. “Do you honestly believe she’s not your sister anymore?”

“Yes.”

He turned away from her, not wanting to see the sureness in her eyes and realizing that he knew she was probably right. Ever since that cutting incident a week ago, the two had been inseparable. Stray wasn’t sure what was running through Phoebe’s mind, but there was definitely something broken there. At first the chef had thought it was the drug withdrawal, but it wasn’t sudden like the uprising, so he crossed that idea out. It _was_ rather interesting because Melanie didn’t seem affected either. They had said once they hadn’t been in the program long, so that might explain it, but that still didn’t make Phoebe’s loyalty any more understandable.

 _Or my own_ , he realized with a sigh. “I won’t leave him either,” he admitted and resisted the cringe when she spat again and cursed loudly in his direction.

“But why? _Why_ do you stay?”

“Where else can I go?” He held his arms out to his sides, looking down at his chest and then up at her again. “Where can any of us go?”

“So, you’ll just follow his every move like some lapdog?” He shrugged and started hearing whispers back on the street behind them. People were beginning to notice and he walked forward, grabbing her arm that time and pulling them further down the alley away from curious onlookers.

“He doesn’t give a damn about you!” she continued, struggling to keep up with his pace that time.

“That’s a lie!” he hissed, pulling her in front of him and letting her go in a toss. She struggled forward a few steps, but didn’t fall, Stray’s lips curling over his teeth. “Revelin and I trust each other with our lives.”

“Hah!” was her response, Melanie throwing her hands up exasperated and walked around in a circle. Her shoes slapped against the concrete, her lips moving in a mindless mutter that started making him nervous. If she bolted, he would have to chase her and there was no happy ending at the end of that scenario.

“If we _both_ don’t report in, you know what’s going to happen,” he warned. “Can you _really_ leave Phoebe to suffer like that? She’s your twin!”

Melanie kept pacing, throwing her arms up and down in her own personal battle. It was self-preservation verses loyalty and something Stray recognized very well, the chef feeling his fingers scroll up to bite into his palms.

“We all have to make shitty choices, Mel.” When she didn’t respond, he cursed and reached forward, snagging her arm again and pulling her back to the entrance of the alleyway. “Let’s just get this over with then we will see what happens.”

“But they’re Lexi’s parents. Gluttony, can you handle that?”

He stopped just before they met the busy sidewalk once more, whirling on her, but instead of anger, he realized he was tired. His face softened and she looked just as surprised by the reaction, even more so when his shoulders bobbed in a shrug.

“It’s not Lexi; I think I can handle it.”

“You’re sure?” He nodded, realizing he was. She sighed. “Fine, afterwards we’ll talk.”

* * *

It started as one of Mu’s bad ideas, but thanks to an unusual alliance between Cagalli and Namarra, it ended up being an interesting night for the younger crewmembers of the alliance.

There were seven of them: Eclipse, Cagalli, Namarra, Athrun, Kira, Dearka, and Miriallia. They all sat in a circle while Namarra and Eclipse shuffled three decks together between the two of them.

“So, what are you doing?” one of the _Archangel_ teens asked. He wore thin glasses and had darker blonde hair. Apparently, his name was Sai, Eclipse had just never been properly introduced.

Cagalli slapped her hand down on the floor and a couple of people jumped. “The game’s Strip Go Fish!”

“But no free peeps, so if you’re not playing, get out. Only the people with enough balls to take it off can get in on this action,” Eclipse announced, handing her shuffled deck to Namarra so she could combine all the cards.

“But that’s my deck,” Sai said, pointing at the cards.

“And mine,” Miriallia added.

“And mine,” Cagalli said right after.

“But _you_ have to work in fifteen minutes.” Eclipse pointed at Sai then shifted her finger to the door. “Sorry, pal.” Sai shook his head, but left without another word, muttering something about how he wouldn’t have played anyway. 

Namarra passed out the cards as he left, but couldn’t help smiling when Miriallia leaned over to whisper to Kira. “Why Go Fish and not Poker?”

“Poker’s overrated,” the Natural responded, dropping a card near her foot. “Besides, Go Fish is a game of skill and—"

“—there’s more chances for you to strip,” Cagalli finished, startling them all with her enthusiasm. She must _really_ need to get her mind off of things if she was suggesting games like this one.

“Exactly, everyone got their cards?” Eclipse asked and they all nodded.

“Good, I’ll go first. Lexi, any 9s?” Namarra asked.

“Go strip,” the redhead replied with a smirk.

“Hm, sock or bra?” the Natural asked, looking at all the rather uncomfortable males in the room.

“Bra.”

“Thought so.”

And so it went. They were down to the last turn with two cards left in the pile. Pretty much whoever guessed right, was the winner. Miriallia was out first wearing her bra, shorts and one sock. She had gotten a bit risky about halfway through—picking to take off her shirt instead of the other sock—and she probably would have gone all the way if she hadn’t gotten the next six cards right. Athrun had been second with nothing but his shorts and boxers then Kira in socks and boxers. Cagalli after them with a bra and underwear then Eclipse wearing only her underwear. She sat Indian style with her hands clenching her ankles and her arms conveniently covering most of her breasts while she watched the last two. Namarra was down to just her underwear and Dearka had only his boxers. The two had one card each and it was Dearka’s turn to ask.

“Namarra, _please_ tell me that’s a queen.”

Eclipse wasn’t sure which was better, the smirk on the Natural’s face when she told him to “Go strip,” or how pale Dearka got when he heard the words. At first, Eclipse didn’t think he’d do it, but he gained a bit of confidence and danced the shorts all the way down. Everyone but Miriallia cheered him on and only when he bent over to flip up the cards on the ground and claim his defeat did his confident smirk fade into a glare.

Two fours were lying face up.

“Wow, you _are_ naturally tan,” Namarra said, adding a whistle as she turned the card to reveal the other queen between her fingers. 

“ _But_ not naturally blond. Go figure,” Cagalli added with a girlish giggle.

"Care to do that for us again in Round Two?” Eclipse asked and couldn’t hold it in after that, falling over in laughter while Miriallia next to her covered her face in embarrassment. A couple of the others followed Eclipse’s hysteria, but most of them grabbed their clothes and watched in anticipation to see if Dearka was going to attack Namarra for cheating. The blond held back and grumbled as he snatched his boxers.

“Oh, stop pouting. Here, I’ll make it fair,” Namarra said, getting to her feet and put her fingers under the waistband of her underwear. She started sliding them down when the door opened behind her, the _Archangel_ pilot, Neumann, looking in just in time to see the show.

Definitely priceless.

* * *

The meeting was supposed to be private and in an enclosed room, but with everything going on in the PLANTs it was given a lesser priority and stuck in one of the outer rooms. A shade across a window wasn’t enough to block Phoebe’s trained sniper eye, however. Besides, a rocket launcher didn’t need much aiming anyway. The plan was simple, fire the rocket into the room then ignite the dynamite and C4 positioned near the weak spots of the structure to cover up the prime target. It had taken longer than expected to place all the explosives, but they were lucky the meeting had taken longer than originally calculated.

“Gluttony in position.”

“L1, ready when you are.”

“L2, target locked on,” Phoebe said.

FS smiled next to her, bringing the radio up to his lips. “Firing.”

* * *

Eclipse watched the argument with interest. It had been a long time since she had seen Lathan so worked up and flailing his arms around like some flightless bird eager to touch a cloud. He was talking with Athrun, but that still didn’t explain all the yelling.

“What’s going on?” Cagalli asked, looking up into the council room as well. There was a large glass window overlooking the hangar and the two men had gained quite the audience.

“I have no idea. They’ve been like this for the past five minutes.”

“Odd,” the blonde remarked.

“’Stop it—it’s obvious what you’re doing,’” Eclipse said, squinting so she could read Lathan’s lips. They had finally turned so she could see their mouths. “’I don’t know what you’re so upset about.’” Eclipse laughed. “That’s obvious, Athrun.”

“You can read what they’re saying?”

The redhead nodded and tried concentrating on their argument once more but was only able to make out two words before Lathan threw up his arms and left the room. _Cagalli_ , she thought and covered a smirk as she looked at the blonde out of the corner of her eye. _He didn’t…_

“So, what was it all about?” Cagalli asked, laughing as she tried to pull her hand away. “What’s so funny?”

“I didn’t get it all,” she lied and they both looked back up at the room just in time to see Athrun staring down at them. And he blushed.

Athrun actually blushed.

“Did he just—” Cagalli began.

“Yeah,” Eclipse finished.

“What do you think—”

“I dunno.”

“I’m gonna ask him.”

“Which one?”

Cagalli seemed to think about it for a second then replied rather intelligently, “I’ll talk to Lathan.”

“Good decision.

She ran off after that and Eclipse let her go. For the past couple of days—even after the Strip Go Fish—the redhead could tell the stress was still getting to her fair cousin. She hadn’t been able to concentrate, getting too restless and often running back and forth from the bridge, to the hangar, and then back to the _Regean_. The big circle had made Eclipse dizzy just thinking about it so she couldn’t imagine how the blonde was feeling. She sighed.

“Ugh, I know that look,” Namarra said, coming up behind the redhead. “Depressed again?”

“Just family stuff.”

“Yeah, not getting involved. C’mon, there’s only a few more hours before the Decay’s computers are officially up and running. Let’s have a little fun.”

“What did you have in mind?”

Namarra winked. “Ever wanted to play a prank on that Kira guy?”

“Only every day.”

“Good, I’m sure we can come up with some pretty spicy ideas to cheer you up.”

* * *

It was immature. No matter how a person looked at it, it was a stupid prank and definitely inappropriate in such a delicate situation.

But, damn, it was worth it.

Namarra and Eclipse didn’t know when they had gotten so lucky, but many of the mechanics seemed to be in the hangar when Kira was about to start his shift outside the ships. Athrun was just coming in and his Justice was walking over to its gate. The girls were over by their computer terminal, leaning on the console and looking over their shoulders at the Freedom pilot as he grabbed his helmet.

“Well, I’ll check it out, whatever it is,” he said and kicked off towards the open cockpit.

Athrun stepped out just as Kira reached the Freedom, shaking his head as he took off his helmet. “Things look all clear from what I could tell.”

“Sai said he saw something on the radar. I’m gonna go check it out…” He trailed off as he put on his helmet, a mixture of red and grey goop sliding down the front visor. It looked like dyed shaving cream, the thick substance crawling down the plastic in a sluggish ripple.

The two females covered up laughs.

Kira—once he figured out what was happening—took the helmet off before it fell into his mouth. “Wha—" The headgear slipped off nicely, but the loud sucking noise could be heard from the hangar floor. Eclipse and Namarra nearly lost it then.

“K-Kira, wha—" Athrun began, but when his friend dropped the helmet and tried wiping the cream from his eyes, he nearly started laughing as well. “A-are you okay?” he stuttered, probably not sure what else to say.

“Did _you_ do this?” Kira asked, turning to Athrun and accidently throwing a clump of cream his way when he pointed.

“Me?”

The Freedom started a high-pitched beeping behind him and the pilot spun around to check it out. There was a flash then, “click!”

“What was that?” Athrun asked, but the laughter from the hangar floor must have drawn his attention. Kira’s shaving creamed face was posted on every terminal.

"Hah! Hey, kid, that stuff might be useful if ya were even old enough ta grow whiskers!” Murdoch yelled and everyone laughed again.

Eclipse and Namarra joined in then, knowing they were safe. Chuckling, they gave a secret high five and pressed “Save” on the computer.

Oh yeah, definitely worth it.

Lathan had to spoil the fun. Kira passed the other Rymyr sibling on his way to the locker room, but Lathan didn’t even seem to notice the shaving creamed individual. “Lexi—Lexi, get over here.” The panic in his voice stopped the laughter from both girls.

Eclipse started getting nervous just watching him. “Lathan—"

“No, not here. Bridge. _Now_.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the hangar, Namarra trailing behind.

“Lathan—what?”

He didn’t say anything as they wove through the _Archangel_ ’s corridors, making her even more nervous. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him so panicked.

Tossing them into the elevator shaft—when the _Archangel_ ’s in space, it was faster to store the elevator in the furthest end of the shaft—he pushed their feet and sent them up to the bridge door. The girls glanced at each other as they neared the top, growing suspicious. Lathan joined them and pulled them through the door as soon as it opened, throwing Eclipse so hard she had to stabilize herself on the chair in the back otherwise she would have flown all the way into the front screen.

“Turn it on!” he shouted.

“Lathan—" Cagalli began.

“Damn it, do it!”

Cagalli turned to Murrue who was already telling Miriallia to turn the broadcast onto the side screen. Eclipse caught sight of Dearka in the lower part of the room, one hand tracing back and forth on his arm. He looked pale and definitely shaken. Mu was standing nearby, keeping an eye on him it seemed.

What now?

“—no new leads,” the man said on the broadcast and Eclipse turned back to the screen. Lathan’s hand shook against her arm as his grip grew tighter. “You can see some of the damage behind me.” The camera zoomed in on the giant cloud of black smoke with large flames licking up the sides. A good, half dozen water streams from fire hoses were trying to calm the inferno. “The authorities still aren’t letting us get any closer until they get everything under control. Woah!” An explosion erupted behind them and the reporter ducked in fright. Some people ran screaming past the camera and Eclipse could hear a woman yelling for a medic in the background. “There was just _another_ explosion and authorities still can’t find the source or even the reasoning behind such an attack. People remember hearing a series of explosions and the building falling to the ground, but we have no leads on who might have done this and why. The whole PLANT’s in an uproar. We have no confirmation if any internal systems were damaged, but we’ll let you know immediately if anything is wrong.”

“What is this?” Eclipse asked, turning to look at her brother and feeling the panic begin to rise in her chest. “Lathan, why are you so pale?”

“Just wait,” Lathan whispered and the redhead focused back on the screen.

“I know many people are anxious to know, but we have yet to get the victim list. The only confirmations we have are of military commanders, Aged Jullian, Simon Prius, Walsh Edgar Sr., and Sprear Ginile. Commander Jackson Asther is hospitalized and in critical condition. Other victims include secretaries Margaret Hayes, Phillip Will, and Pam Collineal. And probably the most shocking is Supreme Council member Tad Elsman—"

Eclipse immediately looked down at her comrade then felt her own blood drain from her face.

“—and Orb liaisons Bryce and Emilia Rymyr.”

The broadcast continued with more names, but she had stopped listening, the shock numbing her to the other sounds from the bridge. Did she hear that right? Her parents?

…Dead?

Athrun came on the bridge and started saying something, but her brain couldn’t process the words, the blood pulsing in her ears. She heard Dearka shout something next and Mu somewhere nearby, but it was all distant, the redhead feeling as if she was drifting backwards in her mind. It wasn’t as if she was terribly close with her parents, but they were still a part of her past and part of her, for that matter. Her last conversation with them had given her a little hope; some hope their relationship could be patched up somehow. But now, that wasn’t possible.

Her last words to them would always be their argument.

“Just in,” the broadcast began, the sound penetrating Eclipse’s shock that time. “The word ‘Sinful’ followed directly after by the letters ‘BALRM’ were etched into the lawn near the southern edge of the building. We have no idea what they could mean.”

“ _What_?” Eclipse hissed, her anger there instantly. She propelled closer to the screen, Lathan’s hand on her arm loosening as she pulled further away. “ _What_ did he say?”

The broadcast displayed the letters on the bottom of the screen, even going as far as to present the photographed image taken from a helicopter helping put out the flames. She had heard them correctly. The letters were a large, almost like a festering wound as clumps of dirt littered the charring grass in front of the scene and that act alone solidified who the guilty party was. The first three letters of “sinful” were capitalized, the phrase looking like “SINful Balrm.” Her parents were dead, yes, but even more than that.

They were murdered.

By FS and Stray.

It _had_ to be them. They were the only other people—well, besides Heine—in that ballroom on Mendel way back when they first started their whole masquerade. It was the first time she had truly thought they had gone insane, but because of some deep sense of duty or something, she had wanted nothing more than to save them. Now they killed her parents and took Dearka’s father with them.

“Namarra,” she hissed, whirling and making eye contact with her counterpart standing behind Lathan and Athrun.

The Natural narrowed her eyes. “You’re sure?” Eclipse nodded. “Fuck.”

“What?” Mu asked, standing with his arms crossed over his chest and still down near the front of the bridge by Dearka. The girls didn’t reply. “Is this one of your agendas?”

“Nam, we’re going.”

“Way ahead of you.”

FS and Stray were playing with the Devil that time, Eclipse knew, feeling herself falling again in her mind. The void enveloped her and she welcomed it, hearing a door creak open and then close in front of her.

“Wait,” Murrue began, but when Eclipse turned back to her, the captain nearly stopped breathing. Too scared to say anything more, she just stared.

The Berserker.

“What?” Eclipse spat. “They killed my parents and Dearka’s father. Why the _fuck_ should we wait?”

“Because you’re not thinking,” Mu continued, trying to stick up for his captain, but not even he could suppress the shiver for locking eyes with a Berserker for the first time.

“Not thinking?” Mu’s arms even fell to his sides as if he was bracing himself for a fight. “Wanna say that again?”

“Lexi,” Namarra said, her named echoed by Lathan, the combination getting enough of her attention to stop her from advancing on Mu. Eclipse didn’t even notice she was moving, let alone that Athrun had been the one close enough to put a hand on her elbow to pull her back. She glared down at his hold and she started to turn to him when Dearka’s words pulled her attention back towards the front of the ship.

“You know who they are, right?” he asked and, surprisingly, the blond could match her gaze. “Are you gonna kill them?”

“Dearka,” Miriallia said, but he shook his head, as if physically brushing off the name.

“Oh yeah, you’re on this pacifistic side of the war now,” Eclipse scoffed, making more than a couple of the people there shift uncomfortably. Cagalli tried reaching out to her, but Eclipse was already pulling her arm from Athrun’s grip and away from their attempt at comforting her. “Yes, I’m going to kill them. They should’ve been killed a _long_ time ago.”

“But their circumstances aren’t their fault,” Athrun said, sounding quite calm behind her. “You know what they went through. I mean, you did the same thing. Can you _really_ blame them for something ZAFT organized and executed?” Lathan, Namarra, and Dearka were the only other people who really understood what he was talking about, but the words still affected Eclipse nonetheless. She turned to him then, a sluggish movement that seemed to cripple his composure.

Narrowing her eyes, she responded slowly. “And because of ZAFT I _have_ to clean up this mess. You may _think_ you understand because you read a fuckin’ report, but I’ve been watching them slip downward towards insanity for the past two years or so. And _this_ ,” the Berserker pointed at the screen to her left, “is what my hesitance has been rewarded with. If not them, who _do_ I blame? The Council?” A chortle slipped between her lips and Eclipse felt the grin even before he saw him pale. “Your father, perhaps?”

“Lexi, enough,” Lathan ordered, pulling Athrun behind him as he stepped in front of her. “If you know who they are, we’ll tell the authorities—”

“What, have them find SIN-ED before they strike again? Who do you think they would put on the case, huh? Heine?” It was Lathan’s turn to pale and the Berserker laughed again. “No, they want us—me. Nam and I were charged with cleaning up these pathetic armies’ dirty laundry, and that’s what we plan on doing.”

“Lexi—”

“ _Don’t_ ,” the Berserker hissed, putting her hand on Lathan’s left shoulder and pushing off him towards the elevator. “Nam, come on.”

The Natural was already a step in front of her, her hand braced against the elevator shaft and holding the door open for her counterpart. "Waiting on you," she said, keeping a close eye on the Berserker. Her body was tense and ready to lunge if need be. Namarra really didn't want it to come to that though.

Making a mock salute, Eclipse turned back to the bridge and winked. “Don’t wait up.” The door closed behind them and she just started laughing.

"You're an ass," Namarra muttered, propelling herself to the bottom of the shaft.

The Berserker swept her arms out wide as if in a bow. "Just 'cause you're jealous doesn't mean you can get all pissy with me."

"Did you _have_ to make a scene?"

Eclipse could feel her face shift from amused to pissed and even after all the times Namarra and her had fought each other—seen each other at her absolute worse—the Berserker had never seen her counterpart scared. Given, she hid it _very_ well, but nothing could get past Eclipse then. Once she met her at the bottom, Eclipse slammed both fists against the wall on either side of Namarra's head. "Try asking your other half before accusing me of anything. What? Never been on the other side of this before?" Eclipse pointed to her eyes.

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Hah," the Berserker put a hand on Namarra's chin, lifting it up slightly, "you're a pretty good liar, but remember, we're exactly the same." The bottom door opened and Eclipse shoved her hand to the side, slapping the Natural as she kicked herself outside. Stabilizing herself on the wall, she turned back to Namarra just as the Natural was recuperating. "Stop trying to prove yourself to me because I really don't give a damn. If you'd just snap as well, we wouldn't be having this dick contest."

“I doubt they’d be able to handle us both.”

“Heh.” The Berserker smiled again. “I doubt _anyone_ could handle that.” She shivered, more from excitement than anything. “I can’t wait for that day.”

Namarra watched Eclipse lead the way and shook her head. Her human half was nervous, but her Berserker half danced along with the same waltz.

The two Berserkers on the same team creating their chaotic harmony.

* * *

FS stretched on the couch, falling sideways and lying down across the cushions. Yawning, he put his hands behind his head and smiled. The television glitched off to his right, but he had already seen all the footage he needed to see. The news channel displayed the picture again for the fifth time and that meant the Berserker would be there soon.

“Pride, L1 and L2 have a visual of two figures coming from the port,” Phoebe announced through the radio. “Preparing to engage.”

“Roger that. You know your chances?”

“Slim.”

FS smirked, hearing no hesitation in her voice. “It was fun.”

“Only for you,” Phoebe replied and the radio went dead. Stray frowned from the chair nearby.

FS just laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (***)  
> Song: "Akatsuki no Kuruma" (Wheels of Dawn)  
> Singer/Writer: FictionJunction YUUKA
> 
> Personal Notes: I take no credit for this song whatsoever. I do not own it, nor do I own any part of it. It is an insert song for Gundam SEED and as such I felt it okay to put in the story. Since music is a main theme for this story, having the songs from the series worked well for both the plot and characterization. There will be more songs in the future for those same reasons.
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Strata_Assassin
> 
> \------------
> 
> Right, finally a new chapter. I had a lot of trouble trying to edit a section in this chapter that I knew I wanted to change, but wasn't sure how to do it. I finally managed to sit down and churn it out to rather positive results, I think. Anyway, it is now ready for your viewing pleasure.
> 
> Thanks for stopping in and I hope you are all healthy and doing well. See you in the next chapter! It's going to get quite brutal...


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